CRIMES against the elderly induce particular revulsion, as they are based on the ruthless exploitation of vulnerability. It would make sense, therefore, that such behaviour is recognised as an added aggravation in criminal charges, with punishment commensurably greater.
Codified in law, this would send a clear message that criminal behaviour based on exploitation of the vulnerable elderly will not be tolerated. The charity Action on Elder Abuse Scotland (AEAS) has called for such legislation, and believes that a review into hate crime laws carried out by Lord Bracadale earlier this year paves the way for its introduction.
Commissioned by the Scottish Government, Lord Bracadale, a retired Court of Session judge, recommended the introduction of a general aggravation covering exploitation and vulnerability. This, he said, should be “outwith the hate crime scheme”. At the same time, he recommended that there should be “a new statutory aggravation based on age hostility”.
As matters stand, Scots law already has identity-based characteristics for aggravation, including race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identification. Age would seem a logical addition to these, though problematic if considered as involving a “hate crime” or even, because it sounds so similar on the face of it, crime aggravated by “age hostility”.
Lord Bracadale himself recommended that “[o]ffending behaviour which involved the exploitation of perceived vulnerabilities should not be treated as a hate crime”. This makes sense as regards the elderly. While there may have been the odd peculiar case, it’s surely rare for someone to commit a crime out of a generalised hatred for the elderly.
“Hostility” would seem similarly problematic, unless associated intrinsically in legal definition with crime involving exploitation of the vulnerable. More directly, it could apply in institutions or situations where someone had developed an inappropriate antipathy, though it’s unlikely to exist outwith such contexts, in cases of robbery or assault, for example.
All of which will seem like splitting hairs to those on the receiving end. Age at any rate could reasonably be added to the identity-based characteristics involved in aggravated crime, and the key aggravation should cover exploitation and vulnerability.
Codification on that basis should help ensure a clear set of rules and procedures allowing consistency in sentencing, which the AEAS rightly sees as a priority. We would also back consideration of the feasibility of their call for more vulnerable people, including the elderly, to be able to pre-record their evidence to the courts.
The Scottish Government has promised a consultation later this year on such ideas, and on the recommendations in Lord Bracadale’s report. At all times, in that exercise, the focus should be on better protecting the elderly – and on the punishment fitting the crime.
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