Are My Grandparents an Easy Target Because We Are Not There - Research Paper Example

Are my grandparents an easy target because we are not there? Introduction Elder persons of the family are the guardians they took lots of hardship to make all the family members successful in their lives. Unfortunately, elder persons of the family and society are the softest targets for the crimes and humiliations. At their older age they are taken for granted. Due to their lack of knowledge regarding the technology and other modern matters they are the most avoided persons of our society. Due to their saturated, traditional nature they are the most easily predictable victims of the different crimes. They easily trust their juniors and very often their juniors exploit their trusts and try to take unauthorized chances. Research question Research question is an integral part of the research paper. It helps the researcher to guide the whole research work. It is a preliminary step to conduct a research. Research question assists the researcher to understand the research procedure in better fashion. Research question is complex but highly effective parts of this research. It sets objective for the researcher and guides him to reach to that objective. Research question should be significantly clear and unambiguous because the whole research process is dependent on this. The research question for this research study is “Are my grandparents an easy target because we are not there?” This research question will help the researcher to conduct the whole research with the help of hypothesis. Through this research question the researcher has clarified the main objective of the research. Hypothesis Hypothesis works as supporting hand for the research. Hypothesis helps the researcher to bridge the gap between the theory and the empirical evidences. It gives guidelines to the whole probe (Poletiek, 2013, pp. 5-7). Hypothesis is the inseparable part of the research paper. It is the nerve centre of the entire study. Hypothesis is nothing but an assumption which is significantly based on the reasoning. Here in this paper, null hypothesis is “Old people are easy target for committing crimes” and the alternative hypothesis is “Old people are not easy target for committing crimes”. These two hypotheses will deal with the research problem and pin point the whole findings and analysis. Literature review According to Agarwal & Uppal (2013), a person is above the age group of the 60 years are generally considered as the elder person or senior citizens. Authors have stated that aging population are significantly affected or impacted by the behaviour of the society towards them. They have categorically stated that as the time passes by human being starts to think in new and modern ways but unfortunately at the older age people stop thinking in the modern ways. They also stated that it is very difficult for an old person to learn ultra modern technical aspects of the computer hacking. All these inabilities due to the barrier of age have made the older people a soft target for the crime. According to the authors, criminal activities against the elder people have changed immensely. They said that it is easy for the suspects to do different criminal activities like burglary, theft and murder as the elder people have very less power to resist. Apart from the society the authors also have focused towards the family aspects also. According to them, it is often being noticed that within families older persons are avoided and taken for granted. Due to the exuberance of youth junior members of the family behave badly with their grandparents. These kinds of improper behaviour towards the grandparents are the results of the lack of emotional attachments with the senior members of the family (Agarwal & Uppal, 2013, pp. 87). According to Dening & Thomas (2013), emotional involvement is a significant determinant for the behaviour towards the elder persons of the family. They also stated that the motives of improper behaviour towards the elder person of the family vary. It is often being noticed that elder persons of the family are underestimated due to their lack of modern knowledge and for their old and traditional way of thinking’s. Due to these reasons junior members of the family consider elder people as the burdens on their shoulders. The authors have stated that junior people of the society often forget that entering into the old age is an unavoidable part of the human life cycle. They reinforced one fact that strong sense of emotional involvement with the elder people of the family can give an idea about the unavoidable limitations of the old people. According them, it can help us to treat our grandparents or any other elder person of our family in better way. They also stated that it will help us to anticipate our fates in future. Authors have strongly described that we could not able to understand the positions of our elder people in the family that is why we commit so much crimes against them. If juniors of the family can understand the position of the old people then crime rate can go down significantly. They further stated that often the level of aggression is so high that even murder of elder people of the family is also possible (Dening & Thomas, 2013, pp. 123). Methodology Methodology is the way of conducting research. Methodology helps the researcher to collect all the information required for the research. As far as information or data collection is concerned there is no substitute of research methodology (Kumar, 2010, pp. 35-38). It is a theoretical method significantly used or applied in the field of research. Methodology explains the readers about the procedures followed during the course of information collection. Here in this research paper, secondary research and qualitative analysis approach have been followed which is suitable for the descriptive nature of the research question (Flick, 2011, pp. 56-57). This methodology has helped the researcher to save lots of time and money. Qualitative nature of the research can be significantly useful to analyze the whole research findings. In the hypothesis there are two variables. One is old people and other is crime. According to hypothesis, crime is dependent on the old people so here in this case crime is the dependent variable and old people are the independent variables. Circumstances or situation of the old people are independent variable and the various types of crimes are independent variables. In this research population are old people who stay alone and the old people who stay with their relatives. In this research paper the researcher has chosen simple random sampling method. The random sampling method is perfectly suitable due to the descriptive nature of the research of the hypothesis. This sample method shows good representativeness of the population and it is free from biasness. The sampling method is easy to analyze. The randomness has been ensured with the help of various real life examples from the different parts of the world, from the facts and figures of the various authorities. Findings/Analysis The recent research has shown that, almost 10% of total elder people in India suffer from the depression. This kind of mental depression makes older people weaker from their insides and makes them vulnerable against all kinds of crimes. In maximum cases most of these depressions are the results of the family humiliation and lack of mental peace. Financial frauds against the elder people are growing like anything. According to the data of Consumers Digest, there are almost 3 million cases of elder financial frauds are recorded in America every year but the government agencies and law enforcement officials are least aware about the matter. According to the study of American Association of Retired Persons, people above the age of 50 years are the easy target of financial frauds. It has been noticed that the modern day market place have become more complex in nature and it is very hard for the old people to react promptly towards any fraudulent activity. Financial security is significantly important for the old people. After their retirement from jobs or businesses they want to use their money in better and try to invest for the future purposes. In this aspect also they often fall victim of the fraudulent investments. The recent research has unfolded that scammers intentionally target old people because in most of the cases they are lonely, isolated and physically challenged and not familiar with the ever-changing tricks of crimes. Due to the feeble and weak physical nature of the old people robbers or burglars often make the older people as the target for their crimes. Counterfeit prescription drugs is also an activity often used to cheat the old persons. According to the study of FDA, previously in 1990 the cases related with the counterfeit prescription of drugs for old were 5 per year but from the beginning of 2000 it has increased significantly and it has reached up to 20 cases per year. This increasing trend is the result of blind trusts from the side of the old people. They trust people and pay heavy amount of money for something which is useless for their health. This high level of trust towards the other people has made the old people a soft target for committing crimes. Internet fraud is also a common form of crimes that are often committed against the old people. The knowledge of internet is a significantly suitable for any age group people. With increasing age the level of adaptability goes down and old people often fail to catch up with the modern trends of the internet (National Council of Aging, 2014). Hackers often prepare bobby traps for the people. As the old people have very limited knowledge about the pros and cons of the internet they fall victim very easily. Phishing is a very common crime which is very often used against the old people. Often telemarketing is also a way through which old people are easily targeted. At the twilight stages of their lives old persons are very easy target for the scam stars to commit their crimes (Siegel, 2011, pp. 34-36). Often scam stars try to exploit the fragile psychological conditions of the old person by talking very politely in phone and try to convince them for the purchase. According to a research, purchase of old people through telemarketing is twice than the national average of the USA. According to Federal Bureau of Investigation, older people have the highest probability of repetitive victimization. It shows that old people are easy target for committing crimes. According to Gregorie, in each year almost 2.5 million of older people are the victims of various kinds of crimes or maltreatments. One more shocking thing is that in 90% of the cases the perpetrators are known to the victims. Due to the economic and physical conditions and inabilities to protect their properties, old people are being targeted by the criminals (Spalek, 2008, pp. 7-8). According to the data of National Center on Elder Abuse, there are various types elder maltreatment. Those are physical abuse (15.7%), indifference or negligence (58.5%), financial exploitation (12.3%) and emotional abuse (7.3%). Increasing age is also reason for the higher dependency. Due to various reasons like poor eyesight, physical and mental challenges and body paralysis often old people are totally dependent on the other people. Due to this high level of dependency also old people often become the soft targets for the crime. Caregivers often take those opportunities in wrong sense and they try to exploit old people as they have very little abilities to resist the situation. Estelle parker and her daughter Evelyn Grace Hamilton had faced nightmarish experience in the Italian city of Rome. The mother was 79 years old and her daughter was 62 years old. Suddenly 4 teens rushed in front of their house and tried to rob them. They were so desperate that they gun fired in the air. Mrs. But unfortunately Parker was not at all that much happy by the investigation conducted by the police officials. Due to her old age she was not able to follow up the matter too much. The reaction of the Estelle Parker was very disappointing like other old people of the city of Rome. This incident is also indicating that old people are the soft targets for committing crimes. It is often being observed that old people who are staying with their family members are also the soft targets of crimes here in this case the crimes are committed by the family members. On the other hands the old people who are staying alone are generally targeted by the unknown offenders. So there are very little differences between the two cases. In both the cases old people are the soft targets. As the junior members of the family often do not stay with the old person it makes them lonely. Very often offenders try to take that opportunity of loneliness of the elder people of our families. Validity and reliability Information collected from the authentic sources has provided validity and reliability to this research. All the information is significantly reliable and all the sources which have been used during the course of this paper are authentic in nature. Here in this research validity of the research proposal are intended to measure on the basis of real facts and figures. Conclusion The above research has been done in a systematic way and qualitative secondary research has been done according to the need of the research question. The whole research has been done on the basis of secondary data collection and information. All the above findings in the research paper are significantly supporting the null hypothesis of the research paper. Different data and information used in this research paper are clearly articulating one thing that elder people are the easy targets for various crimes. All the analysis are supporting the null hypothesis of the paper and therefore discarding the alternative hypothesis. References Agarwal, N. & Uppal, S. (2013). Together with functional English Xii solution. New Delhi: Rachna Sagar. Dening, T. & Thomas, A. (2013). Oxford textbook of old age psychiatry. London: Oxford University Press. Flick, U., (2011). Introducing research methodology: a beginners guide to doing a research project. London: SAGE. Kumar, R., (2010). Research methodology: a step-by-step guide for beginners. London: SAGE. National Council of Aging., (2014). Top 10 scams targeting seniors. Retrieved from: http://www.ncoa.org/enhance-economic-security/economic-security-Initiative/savvy-saving-seniors/top-10-scams-targeting.html. Poletiek, F. H., (2013). Hypothesis-testing behaviour. London: Psychology Press. Siegel, L., (2011). Criminology. London: Cengage Learning. Spalek, B., (2008). Communities, identities and crime. London: Policy Press. Read More