Victimisation of seniors (people aged 65 and over)

On this page, you’ll find answers to:

In the NZCASS, 'seniors' are defined as people 65 and over.

How much crime is experienced by seniors?

When we looked at those aged 60–64 and those aged 65 and over, we found these two groups experienced differences in victimisation, so we looked at these groups separately. While both groups were less likely than the NZ average (24%) to have experienced one or more offence in 2013, fewer seniors (12%) were victimised compared to those aged 60–64 (18%).

When considering the different types of offences, seniors were less likely than the NZ average to experience:

  • violent interpersonal offences – 4% of seniors experienced one or more violent interpersonal offences in 2013, lower than the NZ average of 10%
  • burglary – 4% of seniors experienced one or more burglary offences in 2013, lower than the NZ average of 8%
  • thefts and damage offences – 4% of seniors experienced one or more theft or damage offences in 2013, lower than the NZ average 6%
  • vehicle offences – 3% of seniors with regular access to a vehicle experienced one or more vehicle offences in 2013, lower than the NZ average of 7%.

Note: Burglary and vehicle offences are household offences, and age is based on the respondent’s age rather than all household members’. As such, we advise caution when interpreting the above statistics.

When we broke down violent interpersonal offences by the victim’s relationship to the offender, we found that regardless of the type of relationship, seniors were less likely to experience one or more violent interpersonal offence in 2013 than the NZ average:

  • intimate partners – 2% of seniors who had ever had a partner experienced a violent interpersonal offence by an intimate partner, lower than the NZ average of 5%
  • family excluding intimate partners – 1% of seniors experienced a violent interpersonal offence by family (excluding intimate partners), lower than the NZ average of 3%
  • people known excluding family – 2% of seniors experienced a violent interpersonal offence by people they knew (other than family), lower than the NZ average of 4%
  • strangers – 1% of seniors experienced a violent interpersonal offence by a stranger, lower than the NZ average of 3%.

We found no statistically significant changes between 2005, 2008 and 2013 when comparing the victimisation of seniors over time by their relationship to the offender.

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What perceptions do seniors have of crime?

Seniors (30%) were not statistically more or less likely than the NZ average (31%) to think there was a crime problem in their neighbourhood in 2014.

When we asked those who had lived in their neighbourhood for a year or more whether they thought crime levels in their neighbourhood had changed, we found seniors (13%) were less likely than the NZ average (15%) to think crime levels had increased.

Seniors (3%) were also less likely than the NZ average (5%) to indicate that their quality of life was highly affected by fear of crime.

However, when asked about neighbourhood safety after dark, seniors (35%) were more likely than the NZ average (28%) to feel unsafe after dark in their neighbourhood.

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Are seniors worried about victimisation?

When asked how worried they were about victimisation in 2014, there were a range of areas where seniors reported being less worried than the NZ average. The areas different to the NZ averages include:

  • 41% of seniors were worried about burglary, lower than the NZ average of 47%
  • 29% of seniors were worried about vehicle theft, lower than the NZ average of 37%
  • 35% of seniors were worried about vehicle damage or interference, lower than the NZ average of 42%
  • 22% of seniors were worried about assault by strangers, lower than the NZ average of 28%
  • 5% of seniors were worried about assault by people they knew, lower than the NZ average of 10%
  • 16% of seniors were worried about sexual assault, lower than the NZ average of 23%
  • 42% of seniors were worried about a traffic accident by a drunk driver, lower than the NZ average of 49%

There were no areas where seniors were more worried about victimisation than the NZ average.

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