Improving justice outcomes for older people

‘They don’t want to be a bother. They don’t want to be a burden’: Improving justice outcomes for older people.

How does the criminal justice system treat older people? This Hourglass policy briefing paper explores the key issues, policy, and barriers to support that older people face when interacting with the criminal justice system. Within this piece, Hourglass summarizes its position, and outlines key future policy recommendations for policymakers, legislators, and practitioners.

 Key Issues:

• The current UK criminal justice system is failing to account for the needs and vulnerabilities of older people. 

• While the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (England and Wales), Victims' Code for Scotland and Victims Charter (Northern Ireland) give equal rights to all adult victims of crime, much more needs to be done to address where vulnerability intersects with perceptions of age and ageing in order to achieve better outcomes for older people. 

• Criminal justice outcomes for all older victims of crime need to be improved. The current system deters and intimidates older people at all stages of the process, from reporting and investigation through to prosecution and sentencing.

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