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Home invasion is the act of illegally burgling or entering a private and occupied dwelling for the purpose of committing a crime (such as robbery, assault, rape, murder, kidnapping, or any violation of the law against the occupants). Home invasion is generally an unauthorized and forceful entry into a dwelling.[1] It is a crime, the definition of which and punishments for, vary by state[2] It is not a legally defined offense (federally) in the United States, but is in several states, such as Michigan,[3] Connecticut,[4] Illinois,[5] Florida,[6] Louisiana,[7] and Las Vegas, Nevada.[8] Home invasion laws also have been introduced in the South Carolina[9] General Assembly and in the State of Maryland.[10] On March 15, 2011, a bill making home invasion deaths a capital crime in New Hampshire[11] passed the New Hampshire House without debate. Home invasion is not a crime in Australia and New Zealand as well as most countries.[12]
Home invasion differs from burglary in having a violent intent, specific or general, much the same way as aggravated robbery—personally taking from someone by force—is differentiated from mere larceny (theft alone). As the term becomes more frequently used, particularly by the media, "home invasion" is evolving to identify a particular class of crime that involves multiple perpetrators (two or more); forced entry into a home; occupants who are home at the time of the invasion; use of weapons and physical intimidation; property theft; and victims who are unknown to the perpetrators.[13]
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Few statistics are available on home invasion as a crime, because it is not technically a specific crime in most states. Statistics about home invasion found on the Internet are often false and/or misleading.[14] Persons arrested for what the police or media may refer to as "home invasion" are typically charged with such other crimes as robbery, kidnapping, homicide, rape, or assault charges. "Home-invasion robberies" were highlighted in June 1995, when the term made its way into the cover story of The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, in an article written by Police Chief James T. Hurley,[15] who was located in the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, area. Chief Hurley, posited that, at the time, the crime could be considered an alternative to bank or convenience store robberies, which were becoming more difficult to execute due to technological advances in security. In this same article, Hurley recommended educating the public about home invasion. Subsequently, Chief Hurley's article was reprinted on bNet,[16] the online blog posted by Harvard Business School. Before the term "home invasion" came in use, the term "hot burglary" was often used in the literature. Early references also use "burglary of occupied homes"[17] and "burglar striking an occupied residence".[18]
According to an Oxford English Dictionary (OED) draft entry for March 2004, the first published usage of the term in its modern sense is a November 1973 article in the Chicago Sun-Times. The OED also cites a use of the term in the 1989 novel Toxic Shock by Sara Paretsky.
Connecticut Congressman Chris Murphy has proposed making home invasion a federal crime in the United States.[19]
One well known home invasion is the November 15, 1959 quadruple murder of the Clutter family by Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Edward Smith during a home-invasion robbery in rural Holcomb, Kansas. The murders were detailed in Truman Capote's "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood.
More recently, two paroled criminals were each charged with three counts of capital murder during a home invasion into the Petit family home in Cheshire, Connecticut on July 23, 2007. During the invasion, the mother died of asphyxiation due to strangulation and the two daughters died of smoke inhalation after the suspects set the house on fire. The men were charged with first-degree sexual assault, murder of a kidnapped person, and murder of two or more people at the same time. The state attorney is seeking the death penalty against the suspects.[20] The first defendant, Steven Hayes, was found guilty of 16 of 17 counts including capital murder on October 5, 2010 and on November 8, 2010 was sentenced to death. His co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, was convicted of all 17 counts against him in October, 2011. The case now has entered the penalty phase. (See Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders.)
Another home invasion occurred on November 26, 2007 when Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor was murdered during an overnight home invasion of his suburban Miami home. Four defendants were charged with this crime.[21]
Many U.S. states (particularly those that endorse the Castle Doctrine) include defending oneself against forcible entry of one's home as part of their definition of justifiable homicide without any obligation to retreat.