The elderly and the sick often receive lesser sentences for crimes
It turns out that the elderly and the sick often receive lesser sentences for crimes because judges believe that this group does not present a big risk to the public.
They are less likely to commit a crime again. What more, judgment may affect them more than the young.
Analysis of the results revealed that, on average, they were condemned to 5-6 months less jail time than the young.
Mueller-Johnson, Katrin U., and Mandeep K. Dhami. „Effects of Offenders’ Age and Health on Sentencing Decisions.” Journal of Social Psychology 150, no. 1 (February 2010): 77-97.