Are Elderly Felons Treated More Leniently by the Criminal Justice System?

Abstract

California Offender Based Transaction System (O.B.T.S.) data are utilized to examine the processing of all elderly felons (N = 1,562) compared to felons twenty to fifty-nine (N = 160,413) to determine if elderly felons “get off easier.” Elderly criminals were treated more harshly at the front end of the criminal justice system (through conviction) and more leniently at sentencing. The apparent leniency at sentencing was not found for all offenses examined and thus the overall pattern of leniency was due to the mix of offenses for which the elderly were convicted. Though age was a better predictor of arrest rates than sex or race, the latter two variables were better predictors of processing by the criminal justice system.

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