NCJ Number
140683
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: (1992) Pages: 157-175
Date Published
1992
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Uniform Crime report arrest data for the 1972 to 1989 period were used to analyze patterns and changes in the arrests of offenders aged 55 years and older.
Abstract
Total arrests increased by 67.9 percent from 1972 through 1989, but arrests of older individuals decreased by 30.3 percent despite a 27-percent increase in the elderly population. Over the 17-year period, the percentage of arrests of older offenders in the index crime data increased by 91.6 percent. Index crimes accounted for 6.4 percent of all elderly arrests in 1972, but 17.5 percent of all elderly arrests in 1989. There was a 173.4-percent increase in the percentage of elderly arrests for index crimes. Property offense arrests accounted for much of this increase. Arrests of the elderly for violent crimes increased 49.1 percent over the 17-year study period. Increases in arrests for index crimes are below those of the general population. There is no epidemic of elderly crime as once predicted, and the results suggest that age may be a variable that will provide insight into crime causality. 4 figures, 2 tables, and 48 references