What should happen to people who attack our senior citizens?

[SamClemensMT]

It seems as though people are becoming extra vicious these days. What should happen to people who violently assault seniors in the course of robbing them?

 

[weepforsweep]

The crime should be treated as if it was any other adult. A elderly person can buy a gun like any other adult. If the elderly person is too incapacitated to protect themselves, then a harsher sentence is needed.

 

[Muthoni]

If this was a perfect world people who attack senior citizens should be made to serve them for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately this is not a perfect world and very bad thing happen every day. Anyone who would hurt a defenseless senior person does not deserve to have any kind of human contact. They should be locked away where they cannot hurt anyone else.

 

[missbishi]

An easy question to answer. They should receive the maximum sentence allowed for that particular crime. I also wonder whether they should be made to apologize, although I understand that it might be too traumatic for some victims.

 

[primalclaws1974]

I don't know what actually does happen. Sometimes when a crime committed against a young child happens, the younger they are, the stiffer the sentence. This woman looks like she was beat within an inch of her life. The sentence was probably based on the severity of the beating, and not her age. That was probably appropriate. It would probably have taken less to kill her than a younger adult, and then it would have been murder. This seems callous towards the elderly victim, I suppose, but I don't think laws should be changed for every person.

 

[Rosyrain]

I think those who victimize the elderly should get the most severe sentence allowed by law. It is just sick to pick on someone who is vulnerable like that. The poor woman pictured at the top of the thread could have died from those injuries and there is no excuse for it.

 

[LitoLawless]

I think that people who attack senior citizens should be thrown in jail like anybody else. Of course, it could also depend on the situation. Maybe the senior citizen initiated the attack in a way that made the other person fearful for their life. I would hope that those are rare instances, but it is still possible.

 

[bala]

In most cases the senior citizens fall victim to all these crimes.I reckon the best punishment for the ones who initiate it should be jail,depending on the situation and the level of assault.Only when something harsh is done on the ones that are guilty will all such instances reduce.

 

[Kittyworker]

I say there should be a new level of assault say assault the defenseless where you are charged when assaulting someone who can't easily defend themselves. This should be on par with attempted murder in terms of severity. It most cases these are theft crimes of opportunity and really the beating is just wrong.

 

[Gelsemium]

I really don't get why someone would be violent to older people, I mean, they rob them, why assault them as well?