The Indirect Costs of Elderly Victimization

Abstract

Even though the elderly may be victimized less frequently than we might expect, this does not necessarily mean that crime does not touch the lives of many older people. If large numbers of the elderly, even though they have not been personally victimized, anticipate that they may become objects of criminal harm, then in a sense, they may be said to experience costs resulting from their knowledge of and emotional response to the criminal victimization of their fellows. Such a conceptualization forces the recognition that feelings of insecurity about person or property may cause mental anguish or constrain people to behave in ways that cheapen the quality of their lives. Thus, those who are vicariously victimized, like those who are directly victimized, may be said to experience costs of criminal danger. According to many writers, it is the fear of crime (as distinct from crime itself) that is the real problem facing the elderly (Baumer, 1978; Main and Johnson, 1978; Cook et al., 1981). Although most elderly, like most non-elderly people, will not be victimized by serious crime, they must nonetheless live with the possibility.