TOKYO, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The number of elderly Japanese convicted of crimes ranging from petty theft to homicide more than tripled between 1998 and 2008.
Tomomi Fujiwara, author of "Bousou Roji: or "The Elderly Out of Control," blames fundamental changes in Japanese society.
"In the past, elderly people were revered and cared for in Japanese society, living in the same homes with their children and families," he told The Daily Telegraph. "That has gone now and they don't recognize their own neighborhood or the people living around them."
In 1998, 13,739 people 65 or older were convicted of crimes in Japan. In 2008, there were 48,597 convicted senior citizens, accounting for one in seven of all crimes and 150 homicide cases.
Some of the more notorious elderly criminals include a 79-year-old woman who left a homeless shelter in Tokyo and attacked two young women with a knife, an 85-year-old man with a terminal illness who strangled his wife so she would not survive him and a man who used a knife to rob a store in Nagoya.
The government plans to spend 8.3 billion yen ($82 million) on new prison facilities designed for the frail elderly.
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