The Criminalization Of Elder Abuse And Neglect

Many of our elders are abused or neglected. Elder abuse is any knowing, intentional, or negligent act by a family member or other caregiver that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to an elderly person as defined by (Thobaben). In her article “How Many of the Elderly are Abused or Neglected?” Mari Jensen states that an estimated 1 million to 2 million elderly people are victims of abuse or neglect. This problem received the name of “granny bettering” when it first hit the news in 1978. However, there is a big absence of exploration into abuse of the elderly. Our elders are our past and we will all be affected by this abuse in one way or another. Neglect is when certain provisions such as food and clothing are withheld from people who

The criminalization of elder abuse involves penalizing offenders for actively abusing offenders as well as for violating mandatory reporting laws. Mandatory reporting laws exist to encourage professionals to report suspected cases of elder abuse (Payne). According to Davis, over the preceding ten years most states have implemented mandatory reporting laws to report elderly abuse, but the definition of abuse varies from state to state. Most of the states are required to report physical (battery, sexual) neglect, mental, and exploitation. However, there is no legal requirement to do

People who abuse the elderly are both male and female. In virtually 60% of the elderly abuse occurrences are caused by a family member. Most of these elders are lonely and have some sort of illness such as dementia or Alzheimer. There are many signs to elderly abuse. NCOA states, elders who have been abused have a 30% higher risk of death. Unfortunately not all elderly abuse is reported. When abuse is an issue an elderly person can be relocated and this takes him or her away from the abuser, however, this may be worse than the abuse, because the elder may not understand and may get depressed, act out, etc. We can be vigilant and report the abuse, but not many people take the time to do so. Once you report the abuse to adult protective services, they conduct an investigation, they also interview the elder. If the elder is afraid of further abuse, they may deny the claim and nothing will be done. The elder remains in the same situation. Best solution would be for APS to step in along with physicians and identification program where that identification is tagged by a physician and sent to APS once the elder has been diagnosed that needs assistance for everyday living. This way APS can visit the home and set up the courses required to care for the elder. These courses should involve how to care for the elder, how to treat them with respect, how to spend