Rachel E. Morgan, Ph.D., Britney J. Mason, Bureau of Justice Statistics

November 13, 2014    NCJ 248339

Presents estimates on property and fatal and nonfatal violent victimization against persons age 65 or older from 2003 to 2013. The report examines patterns of victimization over time and the distribution of violent victimization by the victim-offender relationship, victim's disability status, victim and incident characteristics, reporting to police, injuries sustained during the victimization, and identity theft victimization against the elderly. Nonfatal violent and property victimization data are from the National Crime Victimization Survey and homicide data are from mortality data based on death certificates in the National Vital Statistics System of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS).

Highlights:

• The rates of nonfatal violent crime (3.6 per 1,000 persons) and property crime (72.3 per 1,000) against elderly persons were lower than those of younger persons. „„
• The ratio of the estimates of property crime to violent crime was higher for the elderly (13 to 1) than for younger persons ages 25 to 49 (3 to 1) and persons ages 50 to 64 (5 to 1). „„
• Elderly homicide rates declined 44%, from 3.7 homicides per 100,000 persons in 1993 to 2.1 per 100,000 in 2011. „„
• More than half (56 percent) of elderly violent crime victims reported the victimization to police, compared to more than a third (38 percent) for persons ages 12 to 24. „„
• Among elderly violent crime victims, about 59% reported being victimized at or near their home. „„

Part of the Crimes against Persons Age 65 or Older Series

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Full report (PDF 2.2M)
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