Older Offenders

The literature reviews seeks to explore the prevailing discourses surrounding the topic of older offenders. We will begin with a brief overview on how previous literature has defined the notion of an older offender. Secondly, we will explore the historical context related to the increase of offender populations by taking into account multiple perspectives surrounding the issue. In fact, it becomes essential to create a starting point for action and that it is making individual’s aware of the current issue in the criminal justice system. The literature review will take a different turn, by exploring how the social, political and physical perceptions of age can affect the way we think about crime. Moreover, we will uncover that the perceptions

The inability to agree on a definition of older offenders has resulted in the lack of research that compares program outcomes and the disregard to develop age-specific strategies. One of the major issues for researchers is not the fact that there is a lack of a chronological cut off but a lack of consensus in the criminological field. In addition, it becomes difficult to define “old” as prisoners, law enforcement, correctional staff and laypersons can view it differently. Although different provinces may use various criteria to classify subgroups in the prison population, the age range of 50-55 is the most recognized. The age categories are based off the assumption that a prisoner can age 10-15 years more physiologically than their chronological age. It is then important to not assume that older offenders make up a homogeneous category as the population can be divided in 3 to 4 subgroups of offenders. The challenge in defining any subject of humans is determining who belongs and who does not; who should be eligible to receive the proposed policies, programs and adaptations is another

Many studies have confirmed a possible relationship between both variables, where as an offender ages, they become less likely to commit further criminal activity. In the last few decades, however, the focus on age and crime has shifted and broadened to incorporate older people as an offender and perpetrator of serious crime rather than just a victim. The idea of a stereotypical criminal can be regarded as one of the main reasons there is a lack of policy and program adaptation directed towards older offenders. Offending is often regarded as a youth phenomenon while fear of crime belonged to the realm of older individuals. In turn, there is very sparse literature that captures what is known about older adults as criminal offenders and the experiences of those incarcerated. The current literature review, however, will highlight the authors that have explored the criminal characteristics of the older offender whether it may be the crimes that are most often committed or the recidivism rate of the career criminal. It is important to highlight what we know about older offenders to begin acknowledging difference to better manage older