solutions. Some prisons have released nonviolent
elderly prisoners; others have released prisoners who
are very ill and deemed to be at low risk of recidivating.
Some prisons have developed programs that release
prisoners with ankle bracelets that monitor their move-
ment. Finally, some prisons have created separate geri-
atric units for elder prisoners. These units are tailored to
the needs of the elderly. Most of these options are
implemented because prisons are not physically or
financially able to meet the needs of elder prisoners.Elders on Death Row
The approximately 100 elders who are on death row
present a different kind of challenge; in recent years,
several court cases have challenged the constitutional-
ity of executing elders. One case involved 76-year-old
Clarence Allen, a wheelchair-bound death row pris-
oner, who suffered from many ailments, including
blindness. Before his 2006 execution, he claimed that
his execution would violate the Eighth Amendment
prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
While the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that it
is unconstitutional to execute juveniles, the mentally
ill, and the mentally retarded, the Court has refused to
consider cases concerning the execution of elders. The
Court determined that these other groups do not have the
mental capacity that makes someone deserving of the
death penalty. For instance, psychological research has
indicated that juveniles are immature and are sometimes
unable to logically consider the outcomes of their
actions. Similarly, the limited mental abilities of the men-
tally ill and the mentally retarded make the death penalty
inappropriate for such prisoners. Most elders are not
likely to receive the same leniency from the Court, unless
they can show some mental deficit (e.g., Alzheimer’s
disease or dementia) that would make their conditions
similar to that of the mentally ill or mentally retarded.
In determining whether the death penalty violates
the Eighth Amendment, courts often also consider
whether such punishment violates the community’s
“evolving standards of decency.” For example, the
Supreme Court determined that the community was
opposed to executing the mentally ill. It is difficult to
determine the public’s opinion about the execution of
the elderly because researchers have not studied this
issue as thoroughly as they studied opinion about exe-
cuting members of the other groups. There is anecdotal
evidence that the public may not support execution ofelders in some cases. Before 74-year-old James Hubbard
was executed in 2004, his friends and community
members started a petition asking the governor to con-
vert his death sentence to life in prison. Hubbard
suffered from cancer and dementia; he no longer under-
stood why he was on death row awaiting execution.
Thus, his supporters felt that he did not deserve to be
put to death. Despite the public support for Hubbard,
the courts and governor refused to stop the execution.
Psychologists have much to learn about how elders
are treated in the legal system. Research is needed to
determine how age affects verdicts and sentences, how
prisons can best meet the needs of elder prisoners, how
age-related mental problems affect the capacity to
understand one’s situation, and whether the public sup-
ports the execution of elders.Monica K. Miller and
L. Beth GaydonSee also Death Penalty; Elderly Witnesses; Juveniles and the
Death Penalty; Mental Illness and the Death Penalty;
Mental Retardation and the Death PenaltyFurther Readings
Bornstein, B. H. (1995). Memory processes in elderly
eyewitnesses: What we know and what we don’t.
Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 13,337–348.
Elgit, H. C. (2005). Ageism and the American Legal System.
Gainseville: University Press of Florida.
Gaydon, L. B., & Miller, M. K. (2007). Elders in the
justice system: How the system treats elders in trials,
during imprisonment, and on death row. Behavioral
Sciences & the Law, 25(5), 677–699.
Lemieux, C. M., Dyeson, T. B., & Castiglione, B. (2002).
Revisiting the literature on prisoners who are older: Are
we wiser? Prison Journal, 82,440–458.ELDERLYEYEWITNESSES
As the potential pool of elder witnesses continues to
expand with the aging U.S. population, the age group
referred to in the literature as older adults or seniors has
become of greater interest to researchers. The group
typically comprises healthy, active members of the com-
munity falling into the 60- to 80-year age band. Older
eyewitnesses tend to provide less detailed and less252 ———Elderly EyewitnessesE-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:42 PM Page 252