In recent years, the shameful subject of elder abuse has gained more awareness among community members. In particular, the complexity of elder financial abuse often makes manipulative dealings by fraudsters difficult to identify and separate from actual permissive transactions made by older victims. The result is that these cases are very rarely prosecuted and many other undetected cases continue to fall far below the radar of society. The consequences of financial exploitation of older adults are reaching far beyond the immediate distress of financial depletion. Victims may also experience declines in physical and mental health as well as the risk of a decrease in life expectancy (Kemp & Mosqueda, 2005). The purpose of the following studies is to address the issue of financial exploitation of elder adults through the means of intervention, prosecution, prevention, and correlation between different forms of abuse.
Kemp and Mosqueda (2005) conducted a study of the effectiveness of establishing a structured outline for professionals to evaluate and detect cases of suspected financial elder abuse. The unique vulnerabilities and situational environments of older individuals increase the complexity in identifying financial exploitation. The researchers believed that “The elements of a framework can be discerned in part from the existing literature and in part from the practitioners in the field” (Kemp & Mosqueda, 2005, p. 1124). They hypothesized that eight key components are present in situations of financial abuse, and that a framework could be established to help professionals recognize, explain, and measure the circumstances of suspected financial abuse of elders (Kemp & Mosqueda, 2005).
Initially, literature related to financia...
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... A., & Vilalta-Franch, J. (2009). Prevalence and risk factors of suspected elder abuse subtypes in people aged 75 and older. Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 57(5), 815-822. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2009.02221.x
Jackson, S. L., & Hafemeister, T. L. (2012). Pure financial exploitation vs. Hybrid financial exploitation co-occurring with physical abuse and/or neglect of elderly persons. Psychology Of Violence, 2(3), 285-296. doi:10.1037/a0027273
Kemp, B. J., & Mosqueda, L. A. (2005). Elder Financial Abuse: An Evaluation Framework and Supporting Evidence. Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 53(7), 1123-1127. doi:10.1111/j.l532-5415.2005.53353.x
Navarro, A. E., Gassoumis, Z. D., & Wilber, K. H. (2013). Holding abusers accountable: an elder abuse forensic center increases criminal prosecution of financial exploitation. The Gerontologist, 53(2), 303-312.
According to Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services, there are three things that elder abuse can be classified as. It can be classified as abuse, neglect, or likelihood of serious physical harm. While all of these classifications sounds quite similar, there are some subtle differences. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services defines abuse as " the infliction of physical, sexual, or emotional injury or harm including financial exploitation by any person, firm, or corporation" ("Protective Services For Adults," n.d., para. 4). Elder neglect is "the failure to provide services to an eligible adult by any person, firm, or corporation with a legal or contractual duty to do so, when such failure presents either an imminent danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the client or a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm would result"("Protective Services For Adults," n.d., para. 4). Abuse, neglect, as well as likelihood of serious physical harm are all reportable by law. ("Protective Services For Adults," n.d).
Did you know that, according to the National Institute of Justice website, “There are few reliable national measures of elder abuse. This is partially because there is no uniform reporting system for elder abuse in the U.S.” ("Extent of Elder Abuse Victimization," 2015). It is sad that, in a country as developed as ours, we have no standard way of reporting elder abuse.
Young, M. (1999) Restorative community justice in the United States: A new paradigm. International Review of Victimology, 6, p265-277.
Elder abuse is causing emotional, physical or sexual harm, financial exploitation, or intentional or unintentional neglect to someone of greater age, whether it be from a family member or a stranger. Elder abuse has been a social issue for many years prior to any kind of legislation being made. Victims of elder abuse are often older adults ages 60 to 75 and the person abusing the elder is usually someone the victim knows, but could be a stranger in certain cases.
To begin, “Financial abuse towards the elderly is defined as the financial exploitation of seniors because of vulnerabilities related with age”. (Crimes-of-persuasion.com). It is unfortunate that this kind of abuse can be done by someone the elders know and trust – such as, family members, visitors, nurses, social workers, or doctors. From the same website, an explanation is given on how seniors may not report such a crime for a variety of reasons. Some may be either that they are simply unaware of the situation, afraid of revenge by the abuser, or ashamed that they cannot handle the abuse in their own home themselves. It has been proven, by the Mature Market Institute, a research organization, that four out five cases of elder abuse from a financial nature are not reported because of the motives that were previously stated. Is this ...
Of nursing home staff interviewed in 2004, nearly 40% admitted to committing at least one psychologically abusive act toward a resident and 10% admitted to physically abusing a resident in the preceding year.[1] Not only are nursing home residents at risk of being abused by their caretakers but they are also at risk of being restrained, which may lead to a form of abuse. With five percent of the elderly population, or one to two million instances of elder abuse occurring yearly there is no doubt that elder abuse deserves serious consideration.[2]
Swan, A. (2007). Give consideration to financial abuse among the older population. British Journal of Community Nursing, 12, 474-476. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=2009697435&site=ehost-live
Elder abuse in nursing home is a social problem that has had more and more attention in these recent years. “Elder abuse is the most recent domestic violence issue to gain the attention of the public and the medical community.” (Elder Abuse: A Review) According to the Senate Special Committee, about 5 “million older Americans are abused and neglected every year.” Abuse for the elderly can be considered a social problem due to the people who are in denial of it actually occurring, for example, the caregivers and nurses who do not consider themselves to be actually performing the abuse. It is a problem because the elders are put into these nursing homes by loved ones and ones who
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Elderly Americans should be careful about giving out their Social Security numbers, officials warned Tuesday after arresting a man who sent out letters offering an extra check to senior citizens who send back money or their bank account and Social Security numbers.
Within the next 20 years the population of older adults will likely outnumber the population of children in this country. The combination of this swiftly increasing population and the latest assessments of the increasing rate of established cases of elder abuse suggest that the issue of elder abuse will continue to grow without significant means for deterrence and intermediation. Due to age-related declines in cognitive functioning and other vulnerabilities such as difficulties with mobility, isolation, medication, and dependence, older adults are uniquely attractive to criminal predators (Lindberg, Sabatino, & Blancato, 2011). Elder financial exploitation is an especially cumbersome matter to address because of difficulties in identifying complex financial transactions as unauthorized (Greenlee, 2012). According to the MetLife Mature Market Institute (2011) the estimated national cost of financial exploitation of older adults was around $2.9 billion in 2009. Additionally, there are many forensic challenges to identifying and prosecuting cases of elder abuse or neglect in terms of mental and physical competence and the ability to give consent (Greenlee, 2012). There are insufficient programs to address the distinct problems of older victims and essentially “Elder abuse is robbing older adults of their safety, their health, and their financial resources” (Greenlee, 2012, p. 7).
According to the Nation Council on Aging (NCOA), “approximately 1 in 10 Americans aged 60 and up have experienced some form of elder abuse. Some estimates range as high as 5 million elders who are abuse each year.” More specifically, a study based in New York estimated that 260,00 (1 in 13) older adults in the state of New York were victims of at least one form of elder abuse in the preceding year. The study revealed that major financial exploitation was self-reported at a rate of 41 per 1,000 surveyed, which was higher than self-reported rates o emotional, physical and sexual abuse or neglect. (NCEA, 2016). But, sadly with all of the issues of abuse only 1 in 14 cases of abuse get reported to authorities (NCOA, 2017). These situations of abuse are happening by both men and women, with 60% of the abuse performed by family members (NCOA, 2017). The population of elderly is increasing every year and with the elder being the most vulnerable we need to put an end to the incidences of abuse. Now that we have a better understanding of the prevalence and different forms of elder abuse that are present in our healthcare system, there is a question of why these things happen to elders specifically. Why are elderly patients subjected to these forms of
Abuse is a deliberate action and will always violate an individual’s rights. Most abuse happens in the home setting, which is where a majority of caregiving occurs. Elder abuse can also take place in institutional settings such as retirement homes, hospice care and long-term care facilities. The majority of abusers are actually spouses or adult children, but is not limited to grandchildren and other members of family or community (Robinson, de Benedictis & Segal, 2013). The most common types of elder mistreatment are physical, verbal, emotional, psychological, or sexual. There are circumstances where financial exploitation and medical abuse are also seen.
Introduction: Victimology is the study of crimes from the victims’ own personal experience with the trauma they endured. Before creating a holistic victim restitution plan, there are things that must be understood and learned about the victim that is being treated. Creating a holistic victim restitution plan could be beneficial towards the emotional and mental healing steps for victims who don’t want to have medical interventions to complete their healing process. I. I will approach creating a holistic plan for victim restitution by starting with understanding the victims needs for their specific situations. These needs involve the grief process they go through, the support system they currently have, how it is affecting their relationships with the ones they love, financial need (restitution from the state), and their overall willingness to participate so that they can get the help they need to heal.
They are referred to as the "golden years. " It is suppose to be the time in a person's life when they can sit back and reap the benefits of all the hard work they did throughout the years. In retirement, seniors are suppose to feel secure about their finances. Hopefully, they have made ample arrangements for some form of monthly income and/or have some assets that will help sustain them through the years. In the best of cases, they have a "free and clear" home and no debt to worry about.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 is an act that was passed that clearly states that employers can’t be discriminate against someone based on their age 40 and older. The older adults are trying so hard to hold onto their jobs with dear life, because if not they will be nudged out and pushed aside. Not because of anything but rather because of their age. Age discrimination is on the rise as young as 50 years old. Age discrimination can happen to anyone regardless of your race, ethnic backgrounds or sexual orientation. A study was published in the Journal of Age Ageing and in the report it said that British People 50 years old and older faces discrimination about one third of them. In a resent survey older adults says job insecurity