NCJ Number
138708
Journal
Police Journal Volume: 65 Issue: 3 Dated: (July-September 1992) Pages: 268- 273
Date Published
1992
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article identifies the types of offenses likely to be committed by various age groups and the age-related reasons.
Abstract
Crimes related to unbridled passion, uninhibited behavior, and gang affiliation are most common among the young and adolescents. Their passions are usually more acute, and their power of control less than that of older people. They have not formed strong personal values or committed themselves to individualized directions in life. Their behaviors tend to be molded by peer acceptance and the need to be part of a group where they are important. The latter often leads to gang-related crime. In middle age, crimes are less impulsive, more instrumental, more individualized, and more premeditated. Middle-aged people either want to protect what they already have or attain status and wealth they have not yet achieved. In many cases they are involved in occupations that give them opportunity for white-collar crimes such as fraud, embezzlement, and larceny. Homicide by middle-aged persons may stem from the fear of disclosure of some deed or secretive behavioral pattern that could undermine a career or family life. In the decline of life, the most common deviant behavior is related to sex. The elderly rarely do physical harm to anyone, but they may engage in unlawful behaviors due to attitudinal, emotional, and behavioral changes related to loss of self-esteem and a sense of the waning of physical and emotional powers.