[Crimes against life--the elderly as victims and as perpetrators]

From 1970 to 1990, 55 homicides (including 15 attempted cases) among the elderly (60 years and older) were investigated by the criminal police in Essen, FRG. Forty victims were autopsied at the Institute for Legal Medicine in Essen. Epidemiology with regard to age (mean 72 years), sex (25 males, 30 females), method (primarily use of a blunt object, followed by stabbing and strangulation), and motive (robbery in more than 50% of occurrences) of crime, and psychosociological aspects of victims and offenders are described. The forensic responsibility of geriatric delinquents and the correlation between crime and psychical irregularity in the elderly are discussed.