Elder Abuse Needs Close Monitoring

One reason criminal law exists is to protect the weak and defenseless. A lot of those efforts over the years have centered on child abuse, something currently in the spotlight since April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

However, there's a growing problem on the other end of the life cycle — elder abuse, defined by the U.S. Department of Justice as "intentional actions by a caregiver or other trusted individual that causes harm to an older adult."

Such actions can include physical, emotional or sexual abuse, neglect or financial exploitation.

According to a Department of Justice study, 11 percent of older people who responded to a 2009 phone survey reported being abused in some way. About 5.2 percent said they had been taken advantage of financially by a relative in the previous year.

About 4.6 percent of those over age 60 said they had been emotionally mistreated during the same time frame.

Only 8 percent of those folks reported that mistreatment to authorities; and the study estimated that for every abuse case that is reported, five aren't.

To some, those won't seem like huge numbers; to us, anything greater than zero is unacceptable.

The cases are heartrending and they typically don't involve strangers, either. According to a study by the National Center on Elder Abuse, roughly 90 percent of abusers are family members.

The average life span in the U.S. has grown by six years since 1980, according to a report last year by the Office of Management and Budget, so there are more elderly people in this country. Many are remaining vital and active longer; others, unfortunately, are not.

In either case, they don't deserve to be abused or have their pockets picked.

REPRINTED FROM THE NEW BERN SUN JOURNAL

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