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.