Not since 1991 during the Japanese economy meltdown has crime peaked among elderly -- no, not victimization of elderly, but elderly offenders involved in numerous crimes such as pick pocketing, shop lifting, theft. Bloomberg reports that "The latest [Japanese] elderly-crime wave comes after markets plunged and as Japan frets about a return of deflation. In 2007, a total of 48,605 elderly people were arrested or investigated for crimes other than traffic offenses, a fourfold jump from the early '90s. " Besides theft and shoplifting, increased criminal activity by elderly includes acts of embezzlement and assaults. Reasons cited for the increase include money troubles and isolation from families. The articles commentator, William Pesek comments, "You don't need to be a criminal psychologist to see how this touches on many of the economic challenges facing Japan's 127 million people. It gets at everything from the gap between rich and poor to pressure on executives to how the government is dithering as the population ages.
``Elderly crime is a serious problem that our society must shoulder in the years to come,'' the government report said. ``With baby boomers becoming elderly within five years, we have reached a state where we must make a fundamental review of anti- crime measures in a fast-aging society.'' See the full article at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=am..8hAE3mPI
Another article on this topic -- Shoplifting wave points to plight of elderly Japanese
Isolation, poverty set to drive elders' arrests above teens', read at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-japanese-thefts_dec03,0,939818.story
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