ELDERLY CRIMINALS

Hardback. 1st US edn. Foreword by Albert J. Abrams. This book was one of the first to examine the growing problem of elderly crime in America and how the criminal justice system deals with elderly criminals. Elderly people commit all kinds of crimes ranging from larceny (usually shoplifting) to assault and murder - and arrests of the elderly for crimes of violence are increasing. Dealing with these criminals presents some unique problems for criminal justice processing: if elderly offenders are prosecuted, are they to be rehabilitated?; should force be used when apprehending an elderly suspect?; are elderly offenders treatd fairly by basic sentencing structures?; are costly jails and prison the best place for the elderly criminal? Current police practices, prosecution, and sentencing deal with the symptoms of these problems rather than the cause. This book focuses on the causes. It includes essays written by academic and field research practitioners in criminal justice and gerontology. They are presented in four major sections: essays that survey the nationwide extent of elderly crime; studies of the types of offences committed by elderly criminals; studies of how the criminal justice system deals with the elderly criminal populations; and suggestions of some alternative methods for processing and handling these problems. With List of Tables and Figures, Bibliog. + About the Contributors. 252pp. 8vo. h/back. F. in F. dw.