Social Perceptions and Coping Strategies for Crimes Involving Older Adults: Insights from News Media Analysis

In Korea, population aging is progressing rapidly, with the population in their 70s and older surpassing that in their 20s. The aging trend has caused a number of social problems, and one of them would be the increase in crimes involving the older adults. This situation indicates that the police also should establish appropriate security measures for the hyper-aged society, and thus, this study examined the recent trends in public opinion. The analysis target for the examination was Naver news article and reader’s commentary data containing the keyword ‘crime and/or older adults’ from 2004 to 2023. Utilizing text mining techniques, the data analyses were to identify any changes in the media and public’ perspectives on crimes involving older adults as well as to ascertain the public’s views on policies for addressing the crimes. As a result of data analyses, it was found that both the media and public consistently showed interest in the increase of crimes involving older adults and its corresponding countermeasures. For instance, the interest in the government and police’s response to crime and the social welfare system for crime prevention was not decreasing. Meanwhile, the public demanded strict punishment for crimes committed by older adults, regardless of the type of crime or the offender’s age. Based on the findings, the current researchers proposed to establish a department in charge of the safety for the older adults within the police organization and to strengthen police activities in depopulated rural areas as countermeasures to the increase in crimes involving older adults. The significance of this study was that it used text mining techniques to elucidate various perspectives on crimes involving older adults and suggest practical policies for addressing the crimes.