Age as a Victimological Variable

Abstract

The next several chapters shift attention away from the study of elderly persons as offenders and toward the study of elderly victims of crime. Social scientific interest in the analysis of victim processes is relatively recent and may be seen as representing one aspect of a significant broadening of the criminological paradigm which began in the 1960s and which continues to the present day (Gibbons, 1979; Short and Meier, 1981; Pfohl, 1985). The development of victimology during this period has reflected the influence of several other methodological and theoretical innovations such as the increased use of survey research methods, and the movement toward labeling and situational theories of crime (Elias, 1986; Fattah, 1979; Friedrichs, 1983). In general terms, the growth of victimology has underlined a widespread perception that the traditional criminological preoccupation with the offender has provided a focus that is both narrow and limiting. Despite its relatively short history, the victimological literature is indeed vast and, a significant proportion of this literature concerns the special problems faced by the elderly as actual and potential victims of crime. In the next several chapters, the attempt will be made to sort through a variety of competing theoretical and empirical claims in order to uncover the salient dimensions of the relationship between being “elderly” and being “victimized”.