The Fear of Crime by the Elderly: Issues and Consequences

Most of the recent literature concerning the elderly and crime has been concentrated in the area of victimization. Such subjects as the elderly\u27s vulnerability to crime, types of crimes committed against older members of the community, income level of the victims, and residential indicators, are some of the important variables that have been studied in order to better understand the patterns of crime as it affects older citizens. Although it is believed that the foregoing factors are essential in order to gain knowledge which will inform us as to the nature of criminal victimization against the elderly, it also seems critical to discuss the effects of the fear of crime. This will permit further insight into such subject concerns as how the fear of criminal victimization relates to the life style of the aged, self perception, lack of control over their everyday life, and the feeling of possessing little political strength in attaining help through criminal justice programs to help eliminate their fears. For the elderly, fear of crime is just one of many problems this age group has to contend with in their daily existence. Too often those who research and publish in the field of criminology tend to focus attention in research endeavors on victimization statistics without regard for the part that fear of criminal victimization plays as one of the many problems facing elderly people in our society. Those in the field of gerontology have recognized the importance of such problems for some time. The issues this paper will attempt to address are: (1) the elderly\u27s perception of the extent of crime, (2) their vulnerability to crime, (3) low income elderly as the majority of criminal victims among the older population, (4) and most importantly, the effects of the fear of crime as it relates to the everyday life style of older individuals. Further, it must be stated from the onset, that when crimes against the elderly are discussed, attention is being directed to that population of aged citizens who often reside in low income areas of cities. Therefore, as the limited research indicates, the elderly population in this country are viewed to be among the major recipients of crimes

Corporate Environmental Crime and Environmental Justice

Executive Order 12898 (42 U.S.C. § 4321 [2000]) mandates that federal agencies in the United States make it their purpose to achieve environmental justice. As a result, agencies often rely on empirical studies to provide crucial information that can be used to implement policies to combat inequality. While numerous studies now examine the distribution of environmental burdens and benefits, there are no systematic empirical studies that examine inequality in criminal penalties. This study corrects that omission by presenting findings on the relationship between community demographics and monetary penalties (fines) against corporations for 121 criminal violations of federal environmental law that were adjudicated between the years 2005 and 2010. Our results suggest that fines are not correlated with the demographics of residents living near the crime. That is, corporations that committed their environmental crimes in minority and poor areas did not receive lower fines as a result. Thus, environmental justice concerns appear to be satisfied with respect to federal criminal prosecutions

Retrospective Accounts of Violent Events by Gun Offenders

Mills (1940) argues that there is a sharp distinction between "causes" and "explanations" or "accounts". In this study we employ Scott and Lyman's (1968) classic formulation of accounts to examine the narrative explanations gun offenders provide for engaging in their violent acts. These narrative accounts illustrate how inmates attempt to preserve a conventional sense of self. Our observations are drawn from in-depth interviews with a random sample of Colorado inmates convicted of gun-related violent crimes. We find that inmates provide accounts in the form of justifications and excuses. Appeals to defeasibility (excuse) and denial of victim (justification) are the most common types of accounts inmates use to explain their violent behavior. We also find that inmates who report that their victim deserved the injury rarely offer additional accounts for their violence. In contrast, inmates who claim that their violent behavior was beyond their control tend to offer additional accounts in the form of justifications and excuses