HOMICIDE AGAINST THE ELDERLY: A RESEARCH NOTE*

By virtue of the type of data generally used (victim surveys), previous research on the victimization of the elderly is limited in two respects. Not only is the crime of homicide outside the domain of victimization data, but sample surveys uncover too few incidents of victimization of the elderly to permit in-depth analyses. Using the supplementary homicide reports from 1976–1985, we compared patterns and rates of homicide among the elderly and younger populations. Our results suggest that the elderly are in fact the least at risk for homicide generally, as has been reported for other crimes. When examining specific subtypes of homicide, however, the elderly are actually at greater risk than their younger counterparts for homicide committed during a robbery.     

ELIOT OF HARVARD

Several years ago, I was asked to deliver a mid‐summer lecture to a group of university presidents on the subject of leadership. With the unusual luxury of having some time to prepare, I chose not to reflect upon my personal experiences, but to seek inspiration from history. Initially, I planned to draw lessons from the work of the greatest of my Yale predecessors, as well as several presidents with distinguished records at other institutions. The more I read, the more convinced I became that one leader stands above all others in the history of American higher education. He, alas, was not a Yale man.