Older victims of crime: Vulnerability, resilience and access to procedural justice
| Author | Kevin J Brown,Faith Gordon |
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758018791426 |
| Date | 01 May 2019 |
| Published date | 01 May 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Older victims of crime:
Vulnerability, resilience and
access to procedural justice
Kevin J Brown
Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Faith Gordon
University of Westminster, UK
Abstract
This article provides the first comprehensive examination of the phenomenon of unequal access to
procedural justice for older victims of crime. It analyses quantitative and qualitative data exploring
the interactions of older people with the criminal justice system of Northern Ireland. It identifies
that older victims of crime are less likely to have a successful crime outcome (known as ‘detection’
or ‘clear-up’ in other jurisdictions) to their case when compared to other adults. The results
provide evidence of a system failing to adequately take into account additional vulnerabilities that
disproportionately impact on older victims’ ability to engage with the justice process. There is an
analysis of the relationships between vulnerability, resilience and access to justice. The current
conceptual understanding of vulnerability as applied to older people within the justice system is
challenged. The findings are relevant for researchers and policy-makers in the United Kingdom,
Ireland and further afield concerned with the treatment of older and vulnerable victims by the
justice system.
Keywords
Older people, aging, crime, victimization, resilience, vulnerability
Introduction
There is an increasing consensus, nationally and internationally, in academic literature and policy
discourse, that a focus of criminal justice systems should be to improve the experience of victims
(Doak, 2014). Numerous proposals have been suggested and implemented to enact this goal, with
Corresponding author:
Kevin J Brown, Room 6.18, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast, BelfastBT7 1NN, UK.
Email: k.brown@qub.ac.uk
International Review of Victimology
2019, Vol. 25(2) 201–221
ªThe Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0269758018791426
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particular consideration given to the needs of vulnerable victims (Department of Justice, 2015;
Ministry of Justice, 2015). Within this context, increasing attention has begun to be paid by
academics and policy-makers to the experiences of older victims of crime (Bows and Westmar-
land, 2017; Clarke et al., 2016; Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland, 2016). This
article contributes to this literature through an analysis, incorporating qualitative and quantitative
data, that explores the extent to which older victims of crime have access to justice in Northern
Ireland.
Recently, concerns have been raised by the Commissioner for Older People in Northern
Ireland (COPNI) (2014) and the Northern Ireland Policing Board (2015; 2016) about the
handling of cases in the jurisdiction involving older victims of crime. In response, research
by Brown and Gordon (2018) conducted on behalf of COPNI found deficiencies in the criminal
process that obstruct access to justice for older people. Of particular concern has been the
finding that crimes involving older victims have a lower crime outcome rate than cases involv-
ing younger adult victims. The precise meaning of crime outcome rates, sometimes referred to
as ‘detection’ or ‘clear-up’ rates in other jurisdictions, will be explored later in the article. In
brief, it is a measure of the percentage of recorded reports of crime in which a suspect is
identified and faces proceedings in a criminal court or an alternative disposal such as a fixed
penalty or restorative justice. Therefore, a finding of a lower crime outcome rate for older age
categories of victims means older people who report crimes to the police are less likely than
other adults to see their case reach a sanctioned outcome. It is an important indicator of the
extent to which older victims have substantive access to justice in Northern Ireland. The
outcome rate findings from this study are unique as Northern Ireland is the only known
jurisdiction to gather and make available information on outcome (or comparable) rates by
age of the victim. Based on these research findings, this article provides the first academic
analysis of the differences in crime outcomes between older and younger victims. The article
critically explores the factors contributing to these differences. This inclu des the failure to
recognise increased risks of vulnerability and lower resilience levels amongst the older popu-
lation and to subsequently adequately support vulnerable older adults on their journey through
the justice system. The findings of this study are relevant not only for Northern Ireland, but
further afield in the UK, Ireland and globally as they identify issues that may be replicated, but
undocumented elsewhere.
This study is ‘interested in the ...ways in which older victims (as opposed to younger victims)
are perceived, handled, studied and treated’ (Payne, 2005, p .vii) by the criminal justice system.
Therefore, rather than simply classifying the ‘elderly’ as a discrete category of victims, this study
has been led by the data in determining what age ranges to include within the older victim
category. As will be discussed, evidence of depreciating access to justice in Northern Ireland
is in evidence for victims aged 55þwith those within the oldest age categories having the lowest
recorded levels of access.
The article will first explore the concept of access to procedural justice for older victims, before
turning to the methodology underpinning the research study. It then explores the outcome rate data
for Northern Ireland as a measure of access to procedural justice over the previous decade identi-
fying how older victims of crime are less likely to have a successful outcome to their case than
younger adults. The reasons behind the differences in outcome by age of victim are then explored,
before turning to a final discussion on reforms that could be introduced to seek to improve access to
justice for older victims of crime.
202 International Review of Victimology 25(2)
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