Practitioner Understandings of Older Victims of Abuse and Their Perpetrators: Not Ideal Enough?

This article reports data from interviews with 66 professionals working across safeguarding, health, criminal justice and specialist domestic abuse services exploring their views about older victims’ experiences of domestic abuse. The findings reveal that older victims, despite embodying many of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bows, Hannah (Author)
Contributors: Bromley, Paige ; Walklate, Sandra
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2024
In: The British journal of criminology
Year: 2024, Volume: 64, Issue: 3, Pages: 620-637
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
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Summary:This article reports data from interviews with 66 professionals working across safeguarding, health, criminal justice and specialist domestic abuse services exploring their views about older victims’ experiences of domestic abuse. The findings reveal that older victims, despite embodying many of the criteria of Christie’s ideal victim, are not ideal enough as they fail to conform to the stereotype of the young, female victim of intimate-partner abuse. Similarly, their perpetrators, whether older partners or younger sons/other family members, fall short of the necessary criteria to be seen as legitimate offenders—they are not quite ideal—meaning domestic abuse against older adults is frequently repackaged as a health issue, with significant implications for professional practice.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azad057