[The elderly as victims of violent crime]

Up to now, victimology has only dealt with partial aspects of the situation of the elderly as victims of violent crime. Nevertheless, the Police Crime Statistics enable us to make the following three basic statements: In general, old people are less likely to become victims of violent crime (than young people). The acts of violence committed against the elderly are mainly ones in which there was a relationship between offender and victim before the offense. Elderly women are disproportionately more often victims of purse snatching. The increasing social isolation of old people constitutes not only a specific form of victimization, it probably also increases their susceptibility to become victims. The theory that old people have "a particularly pronounced fear of crime" cannot be generally proven. This question must be considered from differing points of view and depends largely on the individual vulnerability of the old people. In Germany, there has hardly been any empirical study of violence towards the elderly in institutions and in family households (so-called domestic violence). It is believed that more violence takes place in both than in generally assumed.