Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

Should elderly criminals be prosecuted ?
What happened to elderly prisoners with life sentences?
What about historic crimes committed years past?
Should there be a statue of Limitations ?

ie
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...d-s-trial.html

Re: Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

Criminals should ALWAYS be prosecuted regardless of wether theyre elderly or not.

Re: Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

I agree

Re: Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

I know, I know, I should be agreeing with you and saying that all criminals should be prosecuted regardless, but how does one compare with say, the old lags who committed the Hattan Garden robbery with the safety deposit boxes. Half the population were secretly admiring these elderly men whilst I personally thought of their past criminal records including armed robberies and despite their ages, should have the book thrown at them.
with say, an elderly man or woman, perhaps struggling with their miserly pension, and tempted to lift that tin of salmon off the supermarket shelf and place it in their shopping bag without paying for it.

I don't think a prosecution is valid in that case, they have still committed a criminal act but what good is prosecuting them? what sentence are they going to get? a fine? not very apt considering they were too broke to originally pay for the item.

That's why I don't believe that prosecutions should be used in every single case of a criminal act committed.

Re: Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

1 Yes

2 they are in jail

3 if new evidence if found they should be prosecuted.

4 NO.

That should and does apply to all and not to just Nazis still alive.

Re: Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

Muddy, my sincere apologies, I'm so tired I didn't even see your link.

A thousand times yes for this monster. Age should not come into it when it comes to punishing anyone who was complicit in such horrendous crimes as took place in Auschwitz.

Re: Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

I tend to agree, but this really depends on the crime and the circumstances, and this should be decided by the judge who is in possession of all the circumstances.

Having said that, and I realise that I am NOT in possession of all the circumstances, I am fed up with hearing lenient judges awarding derisory sentences to real criminals who have caused loss or harm to others.

An example of situations where I believe old people should not be prosecuted is when they have failed to pay their television licence or council tax.

I have rather strong feelings about TV licences on account of the BBC being so politically biased which, I think, is inexcusable considering that we are all required to pay for it.

I also dislike some of the things I hear about local councils being happy to take as much money as they are legally permitted to do, yet continuing to cut essential services like refuse collection and at the same time awarding themselves generous salaries and pensions.

This latter example was in the news today where I heard that some council in Wales is considering reducing general waste collections to only once every four weeks.

Re: Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

We do have the option not to charge for certain crimes with certain circumstances, if it's not in the public's interest, it's called a caution.

All crimes, I'm talking about imprisonable crimes should be prosecuted whether 30 years ago or 30 days.

I don't believe a person should be prosecuted 30 years after a trivial crime if that person has not been committed for other crimes since. For example a drunken roll about at 18 where no one was hurt and now the offender is 48.

Re: Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

Of course they should however old they are, and there should be no limitation on prosecution.

Re: Should elderly criminals be prosecuted?

Yes.

Of course some will be mentally unfit to stand trial, but they'd have to prove that.