Previously Japanese society ensured that elders were cared for by family and friends, but that is no longer the case. (Photo: Shutterstock)
It's not all about the money.
Elderly women are stealing their way into Japan's prisons, literally, often because they can't afford to buy the things they steal but also because they have no one to help them as they age.
Bloomberg Businessweek reports that in some cases, prisons are beginning to resemble nursing homes, as those incapable of caring for themselves end up in prison, where they are fed and housed and cared for, and have the company of others.
Japan has the world's oldest population, says the report, and senior crime is a problem it didn't anticipate.
Previously Japanese society ensured that elders were cared for by family and friends, but that is no longer the case—and seniors are increasingly ending up in prison over minor offenses, usually shoplifting.
Says the report, “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.”
Prison is more of a refuge for many, providing not just the care they can't get elsewhere but a community of sorts providing social interaction.
Senior poverty exists in the U.S. too. Consider some of these figures: A Kaiser Family Foundation report says that out of 51.1 million people older than 65 in 2017, “[m]ore than 15 million older adults had incomes below 200 percent of poverty based on the official poverty measure in 2017 (30.1 percent), a number that increases to more than 21 million (42.0 percent) based on the SPM.”
The poverty rate increases with age, it adds, and is already higher for women, black, Hispanics and those in relatively poor health. And close to 3 million women 65 and older “have incomes below poverty under the official poverty measure, but this number rises to more than 4 million under the SPM (based on three-year 2015-2017 averages).
Among older men, 1.6 million live in poverty based on the official poverty measure, a number that increases to 2.7 million based on SPM.”
The poverty rate among seniors has been growing, as figures from the National Women's Law Center from 2013 indicate, and looks to continue to do so. Forbes reports that efforts to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits continue under Republican leaders.
It remains to be seen whether the new tide of Democrats entering Congress in 2019 will stem those efforts.
Even without actual benefit cuts, the erosion of Social Security benefits' purchase value as it fails to keep up with inflation has meant that many seniors are already choosing between food and medication, or food and lodging.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
