TITLE:
Criminal Behavior among the Elderly: A Look into What People Think about This Emerging Topic
AUTHORS:
Raqota Berger
KEYWORDS:
Elderly Offenders, Perception about Elderly Crime, White-Collar Crime
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Aging Research,
Vol.7 No.1,
January
31,
2018
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.