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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Older adults as crime victims, perpetrators, witnesses, and complainants
— a population-based study of police interactions | | Author(s) | Mark Lachs, Ronet Bachman, Christianna Williams |
| Journal title | Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, vol 16, no 4, 2004 |
| Pages | pp 25-40 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Offenders ; Crime ; Police ; Attitude ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | The prevalence of police department contact was examined using data for the 2321 members of the New Haven EPESE (Established Population for Epidemiologic Studies in the Elderly) cohort who were alive in 1985. Police records in the same catchment area of the cohort were searched to determine whether cohort members had any interaction with the police over the follow-up period 1985-1995. The sampling adjusted prevalence of police contact over the 11 years was 29%, with 684 cohort members having a total of 1651 separate contacts. The most common context for interaction with the police was solely as a victim of an alleged crime (62.1% of contacts). Subjects also had substantial interactions with the police as perpetrators, witnesses, and complainants. Violent crimes accounted for 21% of the contacts in which subjects were victims. Three factors at cohort inception were independently associated with victimisation status over the follow-up period: being dependent for activities of daily living (ADLs); being African American; and being a younger cohort member. Gender was not significantly associated with victimisation. ADL impairment and older age actually conferred a decreased risk of victimisation in this study, defying the stereotype of victimised elders as the frail "oldest old". However, the extremely high prevalence of police interaction with older people suggest that health and criminal justice policy makers need to consider this population in law enforcement manpower planning and training. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-061019002 A |
| Classmark | TGC: TWA: TWH: DP: 3J: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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