A crime script analysis of court-adjudicated sexual offenses perpetrated against older adults

Madeline Lee; Emily Moir; Nadine McKillop

doi:10.1080/08946566.2025.2550686

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A crime script analysis of court-adjudicated sexual offenses perpetrated against older adults

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

A crime script analysis of court-adjudicated sexual offenses perpetrated against older adults

Madeline Lee, Emily Moir and Nadine McKillop

Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, Vol.38(1), pp.21-52

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2025.2550686

PMID: 40888364

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Abstract

Criminology

Causes and prevention of crime

crime script analysis

older adults

sexual violence and abuse

situational crime prevention

crime commission process

Sexual violence and abuse (SVA) against older adults remains an underexplored phenomenon. The dearth of research into how these crimes occur may mean opportunities for proactive prevention and intervention are potentially missed. To address current knowledge gaps, this study developed the first-known crime script for SVA against older people through analysis of 17 Australian court judgment texts (n = 19 events). Findings show that court-adjudicated incidents were often perpetrated by younger males (typically strangers), took place within the victim’s home during the night, and were characterized by excessive violence and egregious sexual acts, despite active victim resistance. Importantly, an absence of guardianship, along with vulnerabilities in home security, were identified as key enablers of SVA perpetration in this sample. Situational crime prevention strategies (i.e. extend guardianship, target hardening) are recommended to strengthen preventative efforts and discourage SVA in these circumstances, thus ensuring older adults are adequately protected from potential harm.

Details

Title: A crime script analysis of court-adjudicated sexual offenses perpetrated against older adults
Authors: Madeline Lee (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and Society
Emily Moir (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Nadine McKillop (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Publication details: Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, Vol.38(1), pp.21-52
Publisher: Routledge
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.1080/08946566.2025.2550686
ISSN: 1540-4129
PMID: 40888364
Copyright note: © 2025 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this research are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Grant note: This research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.
Organisation Unit: School of Law and Society
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991155538502621
Output Type: Journal article

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