Elderly Multiple Victims - More Frequent Than Commonly Thought?

• NCJ Number: 90078
• Author(s): M C Sengstock; S Barrett; M M Datwyler
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 20 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Andrus Family Fund
• Sale Source: Eric Document Reproduction Service
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Paper presented before the 34th Annual Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Toronto, November 8-12, 1981.

Annotation

It has been suggested that surveys dealing with the incidence of crime among the elderly do not take into account the varying individual and group levels of fear and exposure to threat of victimization.

Abstract

Data from Law Enforcement Assistance Administration surveys were used to review the personal victimization of older persons, incorporating the generally neglected category of series victimizations, i.e., a number of similar victimizations during a 6-month period. Analysis showed that while personal series victimizations of the elderly were relatively rare, failure to deal adequately with them resulted in an underestimation of the prevalence of victimization among older persons. A conservative re-estimate increased the frequency by about 10%. Results also showed that the poor were frequent victims and that attempted assaults were most likely to be classified as series events. The findings suggest that further analysis of series incidents is needed to understand their importance in the examination of victimization of the elderly. (Resources in Education (ERIC) abstract)