A survey was conducted to determine the extent and character of the larcenous criminal victimization of elderly persons. Elderly persons, for the purpose of this research, were defined as those individuals aged 62 or older. This survey was conducted in December 1994. The research sample was drawn from the elderly populations of the Long Island, New York counties of Nassau, Queens, and Suffolk.
Governmentally-operated senior citizen service centers located within the three counties were asked to supply the names of persons aged 62 years old and older. No other data concerning these individuals were sought or provided. Random selection procedures were applied to the lists of names to select 200 individuals from each of the three counties, or a total of 600 names. By selecting 200 persons from each county, it was hoped that the minimum number of participants in each county would be 50.
The names of the 200 individuals selected in each county were provided to the appropriate senior citizen service centers. The service centers were asked to contact the individuals on the lists to obtain their permission to participate in the survey. A total of 221 persons (36.8 percent of the 600 individuals contacted) agreed to participate in the study. The geographic distribution of these individuals included 81 persons in Queens County, 73 persons in Suffolk County, and 67 persons in Nassau County. The age distribution of the subjects ranged from 62 through 88 years old. A total of 46 respondents were in the 62-64 years old age bracket, while 109 respondents were in the 65-74 years old age bracket, and 66 respondents were in the 75-88 years old age bracket. Females accounted for 125 of the respondents, while males accounted for 96 of the respondents.
An ethnographic interviewing procedure was employed in the collection of the data. Individual respondents were asked to relate their expe
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