Fear of Crime Among the Elderly

A Multi-Method Study of the Small Town Experience

Mary Dale Craig

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781317775782
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Gerontología

This multimethod study of crime and the elderly in a small-town setting approaches the related issues from varied perspectives and ultimately presents a different picture of fear of crime among the elderly than that which dominates the current literature. Three features contribute to this book's uniqueness. The first is a departure from the urban view; the second is an emphasis on phenomenology; and the third is multimethodology. With an emphasis on qualitative research, this study allows the elderly and other key informants to present their own portrait relative to crime..a portrait that is far more contextually varied and far less dominated by fear and vulnerability than is commonly assumed.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

The graying “baby boom” generation, armed with improved health awareness and care, assures that the number of elderly individuals in the United States will continue to increase well into the 21st century. “In 1989, persons 65 years of age and older numbered 31 million, representing 12.5 percent of the total population. Since 1980, the number of older Americans has increased by 5.3 million, or 21 percent. By the year 2030, an estimated 66 million persons will be over age 65, representing 21.8 percent of the total population” (Weith, 1994, p. 24). By virtue of this rapid growth in the numbers of elderly persons, and the size of the elderly population, their impact on public policy is likely to be considerable. The concerns of the elderly will need to be addressed, both empirically and practically. Moreover, individual differences within this population also need to be appreciated as the elderly are not a homogeneous group (Hooyman and Kiyak, 1993). As an interpretive technique which seeks to describe and otherwise come to terms with the meaning of more or less naturally occurring phenomena in the social world, phenomenology is an appropriate tool for discovering the heterogeneity of the elderly population.

One issue of great concern to many elderly individuals is crime. While crime appears to be an important issue for all Americans, it raises special considerations for the elderly. Many elderly, for example, are more frail than younger individuals; most are perceived to be more vulnerable; and many experience heightened levels of fear, relative to their victimization (Lee, 1982).

In addressing these issues, some researchers have limited their studies of crime and the elderly to national crime prevalence statistics (Weith, 1994; Karmen, 1984; Miller, 1992; and Rykert, 1994). In the United States, the prevalence of crime is most often estimated from two sources of crime statistics: the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), published annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which, until 1992, was simply known as the National Crime Survey (NCS). Today, the NCVS is carried out annually by the Census Bureau on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the Department of Justice (Karmen, 1996).

“The UCR is a compilation of information about crimes and criminals gathered from police departments across the nation, [but]... it suffers from two serious defects. First... very little data about victims [including age] is collected and.... Secondly, many incidents are never reported to the police and, of those that are, some are not interpreted by the authorities as genuine, serious crimes worthy of official tabulation” (Karmen, 1984, p. 38). Because the victim’s age is typically not recorded, the UCR is not a useful database to describe crime and the elderly. Moreover, researchers who use these crime statistics cannot make specific statements about the relative frequency of different crimes in different geographical areas. To do that, according to Schein (1985, cited in Whitt, 1991), “the researcher’s findings and interpretations must be presented in a way that helps both insiders (participants in the setting) and outsiders achieve greater understanding of the phenomena being studied” (p. 407). This is not only the essence of phenomenology, but also the strength that this qualitative research technique brings to this study.

As a response to the limitations of the UCR, the NCS was eventually developed in 1972 and consisted of interviews of approximately 132,000 respondents (aged 12 years and older) from 60,000 households randomly drawn from a pool of over 80 million U.S. families (including people living alone). The interviews were conducted semi-annually by the Census Bureau and provided:

data about the number and kinds of offenses committed against the respondents; where and when the incidents occurred; the extent of injuries and losses, if any, suffered by the victims; the characteristics of the offenders, as perceived by the victims; whether the crime was reported to the police and why it was or was not; and the characteristics of the victims in terms of their age, sex, race, income level, education, occupation, and place of residence. The result is a wealth of facts about aspects of the crime problem not found in the UCR (Karmen, 1984, p. 39).

Budget constraints, over the years, have necessitated some changes in the NCS, now reflected in the NCVS: 1. the number of surveyed households has been reduced to 50,000 (approximately 100,000 people); and 2. the portion of the sample interviewed over the phone (rather than face-to-face) has been increased, from 20% prior to 1980, to 75% by the early 1990s, and some telephone interviews are currently assisted by computerized messages (Karmen, 1996).

Despite its advantages over the UCR as a method for measuring the “actual” crime rate, the NCVS suffers from a few limitations:

• The findings are reliable only to the extent that the national sample is truly representative of the entire US population, and since 200 million people are not questioned, projections concerning such variables as age, gender, race, etc. may be too high or too low if the sample is biased.
• Credibility may be a problem, as some respondents may be less than honest for a variety of reasons, resulting in an undercount, due to concealment or forgetfulness, or an overcount, due to exaggeration.
• While the findings may describe the national crime problem generally, the crime situation in a specific city, county, or state cannot be determined from the cited sample (Karmen, 1996).

This study addresses crime and the elderly in a specific location, a small resort town (hereafter referred to as Focus Town), and further, it identifies the impact of victimization (direct and indirect) on the elderly individual. “The researcher using [phenomenology] strives to understand all data in the experience under study from the perspective of the participants in the experience” (Omery, 1983, p. 50). The NCVS gives only statistical data, without considering its impact.

CONTEXTUAL FACTORS

It has been confirmed that concerns about crime are influenced by a wide range of variables. According to Karmen (1996), murder rates vary considerably by locality, as well as by sex, age, and race. In general, the chances of being murdered are higher in cities and lower in suburbs and small towns. Citing 1993 data from the FBI, he noted, “The states with the lowest homicide rates (less than 5 per 100,000) were generally rural with small urban populations: Hawaii, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts” (p. 83).

According to Hooyman and Kiyak (1993), older persons of higher socioeconomic levels, who reside in non-metropolitan areas and own their homes (especially those in single-family structures), express greater satisfaction with their living situations. Perhaps these individuals also are less concerned about the effects of crime: specifically, its impact on them. As suggested by these experts, smaller communities and higher income communities have lower crime rates and better police protection than do larger urban centers. However, Hooyman and Kiyak (1993), did not have empirical data to support their view.

Given that the prevalence of crime varies from community to community (from urban metropolis to rural town), as stated above, it would seem that the crime issue might be different in smaller communities in which active involvement of the elderly is commonplace, age-homogeneity exists in neighborhoods, law-enforcement is aware of neighborhood needs, crime rates are low and elderly victimization is minimal. Such conditions describe the context of the small town (Focus Town) in this study. The purpose of this study is to describe crime and the elderly within this context. Located in a small state, the community is classified as a town... with a total of 5,074 residents (1,412, or 28%, of whom are 65 years old or older), according to 1990 Census data. Current voter registration records show 1,659, or 31%, of the town’s 5,389 voters are over 65 years of age (O’Sullivan, 1996) so it seems likely that these figures refer to year-round residents. In the 1980’s, the county in which Focus Town is located experienced a 42.4% increase in the number of persons 65 years and older. Part of the growth of this age group is due to the county’s popularity as a resort area (Office of Planning, 1991). “In 1970, the median age [in the county] was 31.5 years, compared to 38.5 now and a projected [median] age of 45.2 by 2010. Aging local populations and immigrating retirees are the sources of the demographic change” (Wilson, 1997). Statewide, persons 65 years and over were 13.8% of the population in 1980 and 17.3% by 1990 (Office of Planning, 1991).

At 28-31%, the proportion of elderly in the Focus Town population already significantly exceeds the national projections for the year 2030. Such a circumstance raises questions concerning the vulnerability of this concentrated population of older persons. Weith (1994) stated, “As our elder population increases, we can logically expect that incidents of elder [victimization] will also increase” (p. 24). Therefore, issues that affect the elderly are of interest to the community.

Victimization rates of violent crime from 1994 (compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice) indicated that, when accounting for the additional factors of race and gender, those aged 65 years and older are approximately 9-16 times less likely to be victims of violent crime than individuals aged 12-19 years (Karmen, 1996). This general statement perhaps belies the fact that some types of crime victimize the elderly more than other age groups. Robbery, in the form of “purse-snatching,” is one of these. However, in 1992, the likelihood of someone 16-19 years of age being robbed was more than 10 times greater than that of persons aged 65 and over (Karmen, 1996). It should be noted that reporting crimes (their own victimization) is not typical of the elderly: only 55% report violent crime, and 38% report theft (Karmen, 1984) so the above-mentioned frequencies may be underestimated. “In 1992, NCVS findings revealed that reporting rates increased with age; teenagers were much less inclined to bring their misfortunes to the attention of the authorities than were older persons” (Karmen, 1996), so the young/old victimization ratios may currently show even larger disparities. While useful in some contexts, these data do not permit a comprehensive view of crime and the elderly in a specific social context. A more complete understanding of crime and the elderly must include other social contextual factors.

MEDIA IMPACT

Local media, especially newspapers, can more effectively address the crime frequency in a specified community because they reflect actual instances of crime reported in that community, which generalized national data do not. The data set in this study includes quantitative information from the local newspapers most often read by elderly Focus Town residents.

However, as Yin (1980) noted, the media are significant perpetrators of concern among the elderly. As they hear about the extent of crime in their area, generally, or about crimes perpetuated against the elderly, specifically, they may be disproportionately concerned about crime. “Crime... is much on our minds these days: The unrelenting bloodlust that characterizes local television news has many of us scared to leave our own homes” (Modern Maturity, March/April, 1997, p. 4).

Unfortunately, the mass media’s images are often distortions of reality. The exotic and peculiar are presented as the norm, or as commonplace. For example, the media’s roving eye has a notoriously short span of attention. In its quest for items considered to be newsworthy, a TV station or newspaper might highlight a set of incidents culled from a much larger sample (furnished by police reports). For a week or so, lead stories might dwell on the murder of taxicab drivers.... A few days later, a rash of shocking cases in which teenage girls are abducted and raped seizes center stage. These events are then superseded by a series of outrageous slayings of elderly widows by young robbers. The procession of grisly, depressing, and infuriating news items about the crime problem never ceases [although, eventually the subjects begin to be repeated]. (Karmen, 1984, p. 4)

This may be more likely to occur in larger urban areas where the extent of criminal activity might allow for the establishment of such patterns of crime. One method used in this study was the tabulation of local newspapers’ crime citations to document the frequency of reported crimes in Focus Town and its immediate area. More than television, which is broadcast from urban communities, local newspapers are likely to be a source of information for the elderly about crime that affects them most directly.

Regarding two of the more popular forms of media, Karmen (1984) has said,

Those who watch television excessively are more likely to harbor unrealistically high levels of fear about their own chances of joining the ranks of crime victims.... A desire for commercial gain is the root cause of the media tendency to depart from accurate portrayals of the victim’s plight.... Shocking news sells newspapers and attracts viewers [through] gripping accounts, colorful phrases, memorable quotes, and other... useful devices to build the huge audiences that sponsors want to reach (p. 5).

LIFESTYLE IMPACT

Despite sensationalism, however, some might suggest that any amount of victimization is cause for fear, and others point out the reality of physical injury for the elderly during the crimes that victi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: In Support of Qualitative Research
• Chapter 3: Multi-Methodology
• Chatper 4: Multi-Method Products
• Chapter 5: Concluding Discourse
• Epilogue
• Appendix A: Member Check
• Appendix B: Actual Number of Reported Crimes in Focus Town
• Appendix C: Cover Letter
• Appendix D: Questionnaire
• Appendix E: Frequency Distributions
• References
• Index