NCJ Number
101360
Date Published
1986
Length
316 pages
Annotation
This overview of the literature on crime and the elderly discusses victimization statistics and crime patterns as they relate to older Americans, the costs to elderly victims, older offenders, and official and community reactions to both older victims and older deviants.
Abstract
The book examines crime patterns in terms of victimization potential to explain the elderly's relatively low victimization rates. It then summarizes known data on both index and nonindex crimes committed against elderly persons. A discussion of the costs of crime considers the disproportional impact of direct costs and indirect effects such as isolation and increased fear. Offenses that older people typically commit are described. Such offenders are categorized as career criminals, first-time offenders, and chronic behavior problems such as alcoholics and the mentally ill. The author reviews criticisms that the criminal justice system is insensitive to the needs of older victims and older inmates. Attempts by the justice system and community organizations to remedy these problems are described. Graphs, tables, and over 600 references.