The criminal profile of elderly male inmates differs markedly from that of the rest of the prison population in Brazil, researchers have found. While crimes against property and drug-related offenses predominate among men under 60, sexual crimes are the most common among the elderly. This was one of the surprising findings in a study conducted in 38 prisons in Rio de Janeiro, led by sociologist Maria Cec\u00edlia de Souza Minayo and psychologist Patr\u00edcia Constantino from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation\u2019s National School of Health Policy (ENSP\u2013FIOCRUZ). Among women, the FIOCRUZ study found that drug trafficking, crimes against property, and crimes against persons \u2014 offenses that affect physical integrity, life, and individual freedom \u2014 are the most common across all age groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf the 647 elderly male inmates interviewed, 287 were serving sentences for sexual assault,\u201d says Constantino. According to Tiago Joffily, a public prosecutor in the Rio de Janeiro State Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office, among the 112 cases of sexually based crimes identified among people aged 70 or older, only two did not involve a child or adolescent as the victim. Joffily, who completed a doctorate in criminal law in 2012 at Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), explains that Article 217-A of the Brazilian Penal Code provides the same legal treatment for all forms of sexual assault, from situations involving intercourse to those involving unauthorized touching. \u201cAny type of sexual assault is classified as a heinous crime, carrying penalties of at least eight years of imprisonment,\u201d he says. He adds that among elderly individuals over 70, homicides are the second leading reason for incarceration, accounting for 15% of convictions.<\/p>\n
The prevalence of sexual assault among crimes committed by elderly male inmates was mirrored in similar research conducted in prisons in Bahia and Pernambuco. In a quantitative study involving 529 elderly individuals in 19 prisons in Pernambuco, Irene Cardoso Sousa, a public prosecutor in the state\u2019s Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office, found that 41% of these individuals committed their first crime after the age of 60, and of these, 60% were sexual in nature. Her research, for a doctoral thesis defended in 2024 at FIOCRUZ in Pernambuco, investigated all complaints against elderly males in a database maintained by the state\u2019s Court of Justice, finding that 80% of the victims of sexual crimes were vulnerable people, especially children and adolescents. Sousa notes that the US and UK have similarly reported high rates of sexual crimes committed by the elderly. \u201cThis trend has been attracting attention worldwide,\u201d says the researcher, citing, for example, the \u201cPrisons and Probation Ombudsman Investigations\u201d report published by the UK government in 2017. The report shows that sexual offenses are the primary reason for the conviction of 60% of elderly inmates in the UK, compared to 16% for the overall prison population.<\/p>\n
In a doctoral thesis completed in 2018 at the State University of Southwest Bahia (UESB), nursing researcher Pollyanna Viana Lima identified the same trend. She notes that elderly individuals convicted of sexual crimes need to be kept in separate wings from other inmates; otherwise, they risk being killed or suffering mistreatment. One of the individuals she spoke with, who was serving a sentence for sexual assault, had severe gastric problems resulting from trauma sustained after being beaten upon arrival at the prison. \u201cViolence against children, adolescents, and women is not usually tolerated by other inmates, and those who commit such crimes face retaliation,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
Multiple hypotheses have been suggested to explain the predominance of sexual crimes, but all of them require further investigation. Constantino, for example, cites neurological factors, such as early-stage dementia, which can exacerbate libido and lead to inappropriate behavior. \u201cThe French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir [1908\u20131986] said that a man\u2019s phallic drive is the last to die,\u201d recalls Minayo, noting that understanding the motivations behind sexual crimes committed by the elderly is the main unresolved question left by the study. Alongside Constantino, Minayo is currently working on a study commissioned by the ministries of Health and Justice to assess the living and health conditions of elderly men and women in Brazilian prisons nationwide.<\/p>\n
The story above was published with the title “Elderly crime<\/strong>” in issue 342 of august\/2024.<\/p>\n Scientific articles<\/strong> Book<\/strong>
\nLearning from PPO investigations \u2012 Older prisoners<\/a>.\u00a0Prisons & Probation Ombudsman Independent Investigations<\/strong>. London, 2017.
\nLOPES, A. M. dos S.\u00a0et al<\/em>.\u00a0Idosos privados de liberdade: Perfil de sa\u00fade e criminal<\/a>.\u00a0Revista Kair\u00f3s-Gerontologia<\/strong>. 25(1), 73\u201391. S\u00e3o Paulo, 2022.<\/p>\n
\nMINAYO, M. C. de S. & CONSTANTINO, P.\u00a0Fra\u0301geis e invisi\u0301veis: Sau\u0301de e condic\u0327o\u0303es de vida de pessoas idosas privadas de liberdade<\/strong>. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fiocruz, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among elderly women, drug trafficking and fraud are the most common crimes","protected":false},"author":601,"featured_media":543710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,165,159],"tags":[260,256,261],"coauthors":[1600],"class_list":["post-543709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover","category-humanities","category-science","tag-public-health","tag-public-policies","tag-sociology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/601"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543709"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":547482,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543709\/revisions\/547482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543709"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=543709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}