Abstract
The elderly population is growing fast. With this changing demographic fact we can expect to see overall crime rates among the elderly growing right along with it. This study explored people’s knowledge about elderly crime and their perceptions about elderly offenders. Survey data were collected from 229 respondents living in Southern California. Statistical analyses on the key variables revealed a number of significant group differences in regard to age F(7, 221) = 2.15, p = 0.039, and ethnicity F(5, 223) = 2.60, p = 0.026. The data revealed that most of the respondents believe that elderly crime is going to get worse over time (58.5%) and that white-collar crimes were the biggest problem (44.5%). Male respondents (M = 1.80, SD = 3.83) on average knew more elderly offenders than female respondents (M = 0.99, SD = 2.39). Respondents from all ages tended to believe that older people were less likely to commit street crimes but were about as likely to commit white-collar crimes as younger people. There also appears to be a pattern of increasing drug use and drug abuse among both elderly men and women. Increasing problems with criminal offending among the elderly are going to have major implications across different social systems and institutions, such as political, economic, and legal systems, corrections, rehabilitation, and medical and mental health services.
Highlights
It is not a secret that the vast majority of criminal offences and convictions involve younger adults
Overall crime rates among the elderly are increasing globally and this topic should be of great interest to anyone studying, teaching, or working in the areas of criminal psychology, gerontology, sociology, criminology, or corrections
When asked if older people are more likely to commit crimes than younger people the respondents tended to be somewhat neutral in their position or they leaned slightly toward disagreement with this statement (M = 2.35, SD = 1.10; women = 2.40, men = 2.27)
Summary
It is not a secret that the vast majority of criminal offences and convictions involve younger adults. Older adults are not immune to behaving in harmful ways, but they are much less likely to be involved in criminal groups (e.g., biker gangs, street gangs), are less likely to be connected to formal or informal drug cultures, and are less likely to act violently toward others (e.g., mugging people, “jumping” people, forcible rape, and so forth). With this said, there are still many things taking place culturally and demographically that merits attention in this particular area. Overall crime rates among the elderly are increasing globally and this topic should be of great interest to anyone studying, teaching, or working in the areas of criminal psychology, gerontology, sociology, criminology, or corrections
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