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Japan's Prisons Are a Haven for Elderly Women
Every aging society faces distinct challenges. But Japan, with the world's oldest population (27.3 percent of its citizens are 65 or older, almost twice the share in the U.S.), has been dealing with one it didn't foresee: senior crime. Complaints and arrests involving elderly people, and women in particular, are taking place at rates above those of any other demographic group. Almost 1 in 5 women in Japanese prisons is a senior. Their crimes are usually minor—9 in 10 senior women who've been convicted were found guilty of shoplifting.
Why have so many otherwise law-abiding elderly women resorted to petty theft? Caring for Japanese seniors once fell to families and communities, but that's changing. From 1980 to 2015, the number of seniors living alone increased more than sixfold, to almost 6 million. And a 2017 survey by Tokyo's government found that more than half of seniors caught shoplifting live alone; 40 percent either don't have family or rarely speak with relatives. These people often say they have no one to turn to when they need help.
[...] Neither the government nor the private sector has established an effective rehabilitation program for seniors, and the costs to keep them in prison are rising fast. Expenses associated with elder care helped push annual medical costs at correctional facilities past 6 billion yen (more than $50 million) in 2015, an 80 percent increase from a decade before. Specialized workers have been hired to help older inmates with bathing and toileting during the day, but at night these tasks are handled by guards.
At some facilities, being a correctional officer has come to resemble being a nursing-home attendant. Satomi Kezuka, a veteran officer at Tochigi Women's Prison, about 60 miles north of Tokyo, says her duties now include dealing with incontinence. "They are ashamed and hide their underwear," she says of the inmates. "I tell them to bring it to me, and I will have it washed." More than a third of female correctional officers quit their jobs within three years.
[...] [Ms. N, age 80:] "I can't tell you how much I enjoy working in the prison factory. The other day, when I was complimented on how efficient and meticulous I was, I grasped the joy of working. I regret that I never worked. My life would have been different. I enjoy my life in prison more. There are always people around, and I don't feel lonely here. When I got out the second time, I promised that I wouldn't go back. But when I was out, I couldn't help feeling nostalgic."
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(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday March 26 2018, @02:35PM
I guess it depends on what you want. If you are non-violent then you may get a shorter sentence, it might be in a nicer place but you probably won't be there for very long. As noted I don't suggest you actually kill or hurt anyone but having a weapon or destroying a bit of property is normally according to the sentencing guidelines an increase in sentence.
If one skips back to the article about the old Japanese women, they all got between 2-3 years in prison for repeated acts of shoplifting or some form of minor theft. Seems most of them had been in and out of the system a few times. I guess if you live in a three-strikes-states that might work to otherwise it seems like a bit of a pain if you just do minor crimes, you might not even get sentenced to prison but get one of them ankle monitors and then be forced to live on the outside, which is not what they wanted. So there might be a limit here as to how violent or how much of a threat to society you have to be to actually go to prison.
It is probably different from time to time and place to place but the sentence for shoplifting is probably not a very long time in prison in general, unless you are a repeat offender or you somehow really up your game.