First, the note presents general statistics about today's elderly population and crimes they commit. Then current legal treatment of age as a mitigating factor in sentencing is reviewed, including the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, State statutes, and State common law. Age as a factor in death penalty cases is also discussed. The note also introduces and discusses specific theories of how the elderly should be treated in sentencing. One of these theories is proposed to become policy on the Federal and State levels. The author favors a combination of the utilitarian and retributivist approach to the sentencing of elderly offenders. Consideration of the older offender's past criminal history can help a utilitarian assess whether or not the defendant is still capable of committing crime and whether or not society needs to be protected from this particular individual; however, once a sentence has been determined using utilitarian principles, the retributivist principle of proportionality should be considered for possible modification of the sentence term. Elderly offenders should not be sentenced to what amounts to life sentences if the legislature intended to impose a significantly lesser penalty for the crime committed. Practical proportionality requires that the elderly be viewed as suffering more for each year of imprisonment than their younger counterparts. 183 footnotes