| This multi-method study of crime and the elderly in a small East coast resort town presented a picture that is different from the urban view which dominates the literature. Eight key informants (including elderly individuals, criminal justice personnel, service providers for the elderly, and a clergyman) shared their "lived experience" in personal, unstructured interviews. The portrait of crime and the elderly in a small town that emerged, through mutual simultaneous shaping, was far less dominated by the themes of fear and vulnerability. This phenomenological approach presented a more complete picture of the heterogeneity of perspectives of crime and the elderly by providing extensive information about the social context of the informants.; In addition to the key informant interviews, data from two other sources were considered, to permit triangulation. The prevalence of local crime, as reflected in newspaper references to crime in three local papers, was documented for a consecutive 13-month period. It was assumed that references to crime in the newspapers would be one basis upon which the elderly form their views about local crime.; Moreover, a survey of 160 members of the local A.A.R.P. chapter also was used to cross-validate the common themes derived from the interviews. Data obtained from the paper and pencil questionnaire supported the heterogeneity of elderly individuals' concerns about crime. Although, overall, the level of fear of crime was low, elderly participants who ever had been victims of crime had significantly higher levels of fear and lower levels of feeling safe. More specifically, older victims (aged 70+ years) and female victims were more fearful. Rather than being a homogeneous group with generic concerns, these elderly residents of a small East coast resort town reflected systematic variation in concerns about crime that varied by age group, gender, and perhaps most significantly, victimization. |
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