Bank robbery facts for kids

A bank robbery is the crime of stealing money from a bank. Bank employees or customers are threatened with force or violence. It happens in both cities and towns.

According to The New York Times and Saturday Evening Post, the first bank robbery in the United States happened in March 1831. On February 13, 1866, several men believed to be affiliated with Jesse James robbed Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri. During the robbery, the men shot a 19-year-old student. They then escaped with over $60,000. This was Jesse James' first bank robbery. It may have been the 1st successful peacetime bank robbery in U.S. history.

Bank robberies are usually done by men. Women who have robbed banks include Bonnie Parker, Patty Hearst, and the Barbie Bandits.

Bank robbery is a federal crime in the United States.

Images for kids

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  A masked man poses as a bank robber during a demonstration of a German device that protected cash and sounded an alarm during a robbery (1931).

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  Patty Hearst takes part in the April 1974 Hibernia Bank raid with other SLA members.

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  Expended dye pack after a Los Angeles area Bank of America robbery, January 2, 2008. This particular pack was concealed inside a stack of twenty-dollar bills.