Economic worries drive Japanese elders to crime

Via Bloomberg (and Neal Axton)

More senior citizens are pickingpockets and shoplifting in Japan to cope with cuts in governmentwelfare spending and rising health-care costs in a fast-ageingsociety.  Criminal offences by people 65 or older doubled to 48,605 inthe five years to 2008, the most since police began compilingnational statistics in 1978, a Ministry of Justice report said.   Theft is the most common crime of senior citizens, many ofwhom face declining health, low incomes and a sense of isolation,the report said. Elderly crime may increase in parallel withpoverty rates as Japan enters another recession and the budgetdeficit makes it harder for the government to provide a safetynet for people on the fringes of society.

“The elderly are turning to shoplifting as an increasingnumber of them lack assets and children to depend on,” MasahiroYamada, a sociology professor at Chuo University in Tokyo and anauthor of books on income disparity in Japan, said in aninterview yesterday. “We won’t see the decline of elderly crimesas long as the income gap continues to rise.”  Crime rates among the elderly are rising as the overall ratefor Japan has fallen for five consecutive years after peaking in2002. Over 60s accounted for 18.9 percent of all crimes last yearcompared with 3.1 percent in 1978, with shoplifting accountingfor 80 percent of the total, the report said.   The trend has captivated Japan’s media, which includeregular accounts of the latest thief or pickpocket as well asundercover footage of people shoplifting food in conveniencestores and supermarkets.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=as80aWlHdA1M&refer=japan