NCJ Number
141802
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1992) Pages: 203-215
Date Published
1992
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study analyzed 45 individuals aged 55 and older who were arrested for homicide in Detroit for offenses committed during 1982 and 1983.
Abstract
Data on the demographic characteristics of offenders and victims pertained to the residence and family network of the offender, offender's arrest record, and the social and demographic relationships between offenders and victims. The analysis of the circumstances of the offense addressed homicidal motive and method, number of victims and offenders, and spatial and temporal considerations. Arrest disposition was also considered. Data analysis indicates that the typical individual aged 55 and over arrested for homicide was an unmarried black male with an eighth or ninth grade education who was retired or otherwise unemployed. He lived with at least one family member or a lover. His parents were deceased, and he had at least one living sibling and offspring. He had a prior arrest record with the Detroit Police Department. The homicide typically erupted from a domestic quarrel or an argument with a friend, neighbor, or acquaintance who was also a black male approximately 22 years his junior and with whom he did not share living quarters. The arrestee was the first to use physical force in the fatal encounter, which usually involved the use of a gun in a private residence on a Friday, Saturday, or Monday between 2:00 p.m. and 1:59 a.m. Although the elderly homicide offenders are indistinguishable from their younger counterparts, they do differ in that the elderly offenders tend to kill persons significantly younger than themselves. Also, research indicates that elderly offenders are more likely than other homicide offenders to kill their victims inside a private residence. 9 notes and 41 references