Elderly Crimes on the Rise

Eighty-, 90-years old is not too old to get out away.

Elderly crimes in Japan are on the rise. Yesterday, I wrote about an 84-year old wife who had been abused for 50 years who finally took herself out of her misery and beat her 80-year old husband in the head with a hammer, only to have the knucklehead be able to endure that. Finally, she stabbed him to death.

Other elderly crimes –

In 1998, the Nagoya District Court sentenced a 96-year old to three years in prison for killing her mentally ill 63-year-old son in a failed murder-suicide in January that year.

In 2000, the Tsu District Court in Mie Prefecture gave an 89-year old a three-year prison term for fatally stabbing his son, 62, after a series of quarrels.

"According to Justice Ministry statistics, convicted criminals aged 60 and over serving time across the country exceeded 10 percent of the total prison population for the first time in 2005."

Of course, some of them went behind bars BEFORE they turned 60.

Do you think the law should go more easily on the elderly who commit dastardly crimes?