Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey everybody, I'm Christian Sager. Welcome to brain Stuff. Little note first, I only agreed to do this episode about bank robbing if I could make references to all of my favorite heist films. We've all seen bank robberies in movies like Point Break or Heat, and I'll admit I've got a little bit of an addiction to the video game pay
Day two. But moral quandries aside, bank robbers have often been romanticized throughout history, especially during times of economic instability. Just think of Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, and Jesse James. So it's no wonder that across the United States, people from various walks of life have occasionally thought, why shouldn't I rob a bank? Let me stop you right there, slick. There are several reasons you shouldn't, even if you think
you have the perfect plan. First, it is dangerous. Completely innocent people could and do die in robberies. Criminals in this town used to believe in things on her respect. And it's also obviously illegal, not some wishy washy blue law kind of illegal like selling beer on a Sunday. Either, it is a straight up felony. The average sentence for federal bank robbery, which means robbing any f D I C member bank, can vary widely depending on several factors.
In the US, these factors are outlined under Title eighteen, Section two one one three of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Was anyone injured? How much money did the criminals take? Were weapons involved? These factors add up quickly, and when the robbers are caught, they can be looking at decades in jail. Not to mention the findes. Notice that I said when they're caught, not if that's the second thing. If you rub a bank, you will probably get caught.
According to the Department of Justice, the FBI's clearance rank for a bank robbery is nearly sixty and about half of those are solved within thirty days. It makes sense when you think of about the typical bank robbery. Of the five thousand and fourteen US bank robberies that took place in eleven most occurred during the day, meaning there were multiple witnesses. The police are notified as quickly as possible, and it is a safe bet that there's photographic evidence too.
Tuesdays and Fridays are the most popular days of the week for a bank robbery, and most robbers are total amateurs. More than eighty percent have no prior convictions for bank crime, and eight percent operate alone using predictable patterns. These guys don't imagine a fellow smarter than themselves and try to think what would he do. These criminals are often apprehended on the same day of the robbery, and banks are full of strategies for catching them, including exploding die packs.
But let's say you've already thought of that, right. You've seen heist films like Oceans eleven or The Joker Heist in the Dark Night, and you know that a well organized team can mean the difference between early retirement in the Caymans or a long bid in sing Sing. Professional bank robbers ten operating crews using weapons and stolen vehicles, and it's true that a crew can up your chances
of a successful heist. Teams can divide the robbery tasks and also tend to spend more time on planning and reconnaissance. This strategy can lead to a larger overall take. A study by several British economists found that quote every extra member of the gang raises the expected value of the robbery proceeds by nine thousand and thirty three pounds or
fifteen thousand, two hundred and twelve dollars. But keep in mind that the hall per person will go down with each new member still set on a career in heists, Remember you can't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in thirty seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner. Are the terrible odds, the legal consequences, and the risk to innocent life not enough to dissuade you? Well? Consider this
last fact. Bank robberies don't actually make that much money. According to the study I just mentioned, the average return on a bank heist in the UK is about nineteen thousand, seven hundred dollars per person per heist. In the US it's even worse, a bit over four thousand dollars in two thousand nine. While that might sound like a lot of scratch, it's not enough to set you up for life.
As of the current US poverty threshold is an annual income of eleven thousand, four ninety dollars for one person. This means you would have to rob three banks a year and keep all of the loot just to stay out of the poorhouse. Hardly a glamorous lifestyle. Of course, this doesn't mean that heist movies aren't cool, just that you shouldn't try them at home or in a bank. Check out the brain stuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.