The Legal Response to Elder Abuse and Neglect

Decubitus ulcers and ligature marks as evidence in a homicide case

“…The woman had no history and/or physical evidence of any medical cause of weight loss (terminal illness, anorexia nervosa etc). The intermaxilary fixation of the mandibular fracture and the prescribed diet based on mushy food could have contributed to some weight loss (estimated by studies to an average of 4 kg [11]), but could not have reached such a significant weight loss as in this case (more than 30 kg), [12]Besides, two months prior to her death she was already prescribed an ordinary diet. Consequently, her malnutrition could have resulted from a continuation of delibarate food withholding, often observed in cases of child/elderly neglect, but extremely rarely in young individuals.…”

The Neglect of Elder Neglect as a White-Collar Crime: Distinguishing Patient Neglect from Physical Abuse and the Criminal Justice System’s Response

“…Indeed, a common estimate is that one in fourteen elder maltreatment cases are reported to authorities (Payne, 2011). In terms of decisions not to prosecute these crimes, research shows that various obstacles related to victim characteristics keep elder maltreatment cases, in general, out of the justice process (Quinn & Heisler, 2002). Four implications for policy arise from these findings.…”

“…This is problematic given the recent criminalization of elder maltreatment (Quinn & Heisler, 2002). To be sure, several studies have considered how the justice system responds to general forms of elder maltreatment (Payne & Cikovic, 1995;Payne & Gainey, 2006) as well as specific forms of maltreatment, such as financial abuse (Payne & Strasser, 2010) and elder sexual abuse (Payne, 2010).…”

“…Second, criminologists and other social scientists have justified elder mistreatment research on the grounds that a historical lack of attention toward elder abuse victims requires empirical efforts to adequately explain the phenomenon (Payne, 2011). Third, and somewhat related, such research can help to better understand how various professionals are, and should be, involved in the response to elder mistreatment (Blakely & Dolon, 2001;Quinn & Heisler, 2002). Fourth, researchers have noted that the patterns characterizing the victimization of elderly persons are different from the victimization patterns found among younger persons (Bachman & Meloy, 2008).…”

Public definitions and endorsement of the criminalization of elder abuse

“…Finally, some criminal justice agencies use an alternative approach to case building whereby less emphasis is placed on victim participation (Heisler, 2000). There is pressure to further criminalize elder abuse (Quinn & Heisler, 2002).…”