Crime against the elderly

On victimisation and insecurity

English summary of Brå report 2018:7

The overall purpose of this survey has been to shed light, on a national level, on older people' exposure to various types of offences and their insecurity and concern about crime. At the same time as the percentage of older people in the population continues to increase, knowledge about the victimisation of this demographic group has been limited. The goal of the study, which has been undertaken on Brå's own initiative, is to contribute much-needed fundamental information for future work to prevent crime against older people and create greater security.

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Information from three empirical investigations

The report begins with a summary of the existing knowledge on the subject. Three empirical investigations were then used to answer the questions posed in the study. Responses from the Swedish Crime Survey (SCS) were analysed in order to show the scope and general patterns in victimisation of older people as compared with younger people, as well as age-related differences in insecurity and concern about crime. The SCS-Local is a comprehensive survey which focuses on a large selection of the population ages 16-84 and the questions referred to incidents during 2016. In addition, a selection of police reports regarding offences against older people from 2016 have been reviewed for the purpose of describing the circumstances surrounding the offences and the approaches used, with particular focus on typical offences against the elderly. In addition, a number of qualitative interviews have been conducted with older people who have been the victims of crime. Their narratives have provided a deeper understanding of the specific vulnerabilities of older people. The report concludes with a discussion of crime prevention and safety-enhancing initiatives.

© The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, 2018
Authors: Klara Hradilova Selin and Monika Sellgren Karlsson

urn:nbn:se:bra-771