How Do Abused Elderly Persons and Their Adult Protective Services Caseworkers View Law Enforcement Involvement and Criminal Prosecution, and What Impact Do These Views Have on Case Processing?

Abstract

This study examined law enforcement and prosecution involvement in 71 cases of elder abuse where pure financial exploitation (PFE), physical abuse (PA), neglect (Neglect), or hybrid financial exploitation (HFE) (financial exploitation co-occurring with physical abuse and/or neglect) occurred in a domestic setting. Victims of elder abuse and assigned Adult Protective Services (APS) caseworkers were systematically interviewed. Law enforcement officials were involved in 54% of the cases, and 18% of the cases were prosecuted. PA was significantly more likely to trigger a law enforcement response and to be prosecuted than Neglect or PFE. HFE involved prosecution for assault rather than financial exploitation. Generally, the victims of elder abuse were not receptive to criminal justice involvement, which appears to have a significant impact upon the level of this involvement. The reasons for this reluctance are discussed, as well as the challenges and limitations of criminal justice system involvement and related implications for policy and practice.

Keywords:

• prosecution
• elder abuse
• law enforcement
• multidisciplinary teams

Notes

This study was supported under award No. 2006-WG-BX-0010 from the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice or the University of Virginia.

We would like to thank the many elderly victims residing in Virginia for sharing their experience of abuse with us, and their respective adult protective services (APS) caseworkers for sharing their insights. We also would like to thank the APS supervisors and regional coordinators, as well as Barbara Jenkins, Gail Nardi, and Todd Areson, each affiliated with the Virginia Department of Social Services, for facilitating our research. Finally, we would like to thank James Peugh, PhD, and Kelly Gurka, PhD, for their statistical assistance, as well as our stellar team of research assistants, Charles Koransky, Milena Zimmerman, Ann Emory, Emma Spielman, and Sally Mays.