The police response to the criminalization of elder abuse: An exploratory study

Abstract

When elder abuse first surfaced as a social problem, the response to the problem was grounded in the belief that the victims would be best served with as little criminal justice involvement as possible. This changed in the late 1980s and early 1990s when elder abuse was criminalized by politicians, and police were expected to treat the problem as a crime problem despite the fact that very little research had considered the best law enforcement response to elder abuse. In this research, we surveyed 119 police chiefs to see how their departments handled allegations of abuse. We also address the problems they confront in elder abuse cases and the special programs and policies they have implemented to deal with the victimization of elderly persons. Results show that traditional criminal justice techniques are followed for the most part, and only about a third of the departments implemented special elder abuse programs. Also, they confront numerous problems that are common when police are expected to enforce new laws.

Citation

Payne, B.K., Berg, B.L. and Toussaint, J. (2001), "The police response to the criminalization of elder abuse: An exploratory study", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 605-626. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000006500