Eldercide: A Gendered Examination of Elderly Homicide in the United States, 2000-2005

Abstract

Eldercide is an increasing category of homicide affecting members of one of society’s most vulnerable populations. Despite attention from health officials, policy makers, researchers, the public, and the criminal justice system, there remains a dearth of knowledge about the phenomenon. Examination of extant empirical works reveals overreliance on small localized subsamples drawn frequently from medical examiner reports, underutilization of large national samples, brief temporal spans of data, and diffuse victim and offender profiles. This work, examining a large sample of reported incidents collected as part of the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) for the period 2000-2005, addresses several limitations.This research examines victim, offender, and incident characteristics using chi-square tests and logistic regression to establish baseline findings and victim/offender profiles from a more comprehensive sample of data than prior studies have employed. Furthermore, the work examines the role of gender as a key to the dichotomy that exists in the literature between stranger-oriented eldercide and family violence—oriented eldercide. Results suggest notable gender differences with White males being the most frequent victims of eldercide, killed predominantly by offenders below the age of 45 compared to female victims who are most frequently killed by offenders above 45 years of age. Males are also more likely to be killed by a stranger compared to females who are most likely to be killed by a spouse or child. This work both corroborates and contrasts prior findings providing new insights and avenues for future study.

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