When Grannies Turn Evil - Crime Committed By Elderly Up

[matcom]

<snip>

CRIMES committed by elderly people in Japan have risen sharply in the past 15 years, a trend that has officials worried as the population ages rapidly due to longer lifespans and a falling birth rate.

Police data shows that people aged 65 and older accounted for more than 10 percent of those arrested or taken into custody for crimes other than traffic violations in Japan in 2005, compared with just 2.2 percent in 1990, the Asahi newspaper said, citing National Police Agency data.
Theft topped the list of crimes committed by the elderly in 2005, while 141 elderly people were arrested for murder - more than three times the number in 1990, the newspaper said.

Nearly one-third of the victims of crimes committed by the elderly in 2005 were spouses, it added.

Agency officials would not confirm the report, which also said the Justice Ministry was seeking funds to research the problem.

In March, an 81-year-old man arrested on suspicion of strangling his 73-year-old wife said he had killed her after a quarrel over food she had prepared, Asahi said.

Nearly one in five Japanese is aged 65 or older, and the ratio is expected to rise to one in four over the next decade as policy makers struggle to deal with a demographic shift that could deal a heavy blow to the economy.
Japanese worries about crime in a land once seen as one of the world's safest have focused in recent years on offences by foreigners and youth. Despite such concerns, the number of penal code offences known to police declined by 6 percent in 2004, the last year for which official data has been released.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17993443-13762,00.html