Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Older people in the community can feel more at risk of being a victim of crime than other groups and need reassurance that they are in fact in a low risk group according to Home Office research.

Title: Crime Policing & Justice: The Experience of Older People
Author: Natalia Chivite-Matthews and Penelope Maggs
Series: Finding from the British Crime Survey
Number of pages: 80
Publication date: October 2002

This report looks at the victimisation of older people, their worry about crime, use of security precautions and confidence in the Police and the Criminal Justice System based on data from the British Crime Survey.

• From 1991 to 1999 the share of incidents of crime of the over 60-year-olds has remained more or less constant (12% to 14%).

• Older people's risk of suffering from a household or a personal crime is much lower than for other age groups. Older people are more likely to report violent incidents of crime and much less likely to be repeatedly victimised than the other age groups.

• Older people have similar levels of worry for most crime types to those of other age groups despite their lower levels of victimisation.

• Older women, are more likely than older men to worry about fear of household or personal crime. Those that perceive their health to be bad or very bad also worry more about crime than those that perceive their health to be fair to very good. This may help to explain why older people have disproportionate levels of fear, given their relatively low levels of victimisation, as they also tend to suffer from worse health than the other age groups.

• Older people (aged over 60) and those aged over 30 are more likely to employ security devices at home than those aged under 30. In terms of vehicle security, the young and the old seem to have fewer security devices than the 30- to 59-year-olds. Personal security is more prevalent amongst the youngest age group as they are more likely to carry weapons or to have done a self-defence course.

• Older people tend to have a better opinion about most criminal justice system agencies than those aged 30-59 years. On the other hand, the over 60s are: less likely to think that witnesses are very/fairly well treated by the police but more likely to think that witnesses are very/fairly well treated by the courts than the other age groups; and, more likely to think that court sentences are much too lenient.

• Chapter 8 deals with perceptions and concerns about crime in general. More statistical information can be found from the most recent information of 'Crime in England and Wales 2002/2003' and http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0203.html

Download "Crime Policing & Justice: The Experience of Older People" in full PDF 550Kb, from the Home Office website.