Overview of Elderly Victimization | Office of Justice Programs (2024)

FAQs

What are the types of victimization experienced by the elderly? ›

Victimization of older adults is an important subset of crime. People age 65 and older experience the same crimes as the rest of the population, including financial victimization, neglect, and physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.

Elder abuse is a form of family violence. Different types of elder abuse include: physical abuse – such as kicking, hitting, locking in a room, use of restraints. emotional or psychological abuse – such as pressuring, intimidating, bullying, name-calling, degrading, humiliating.

Learn about elder abuse, including physical, emotional, and financial abuse.

Elder mistreatment typically takes one of the following forms: physical abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, and neglect. Older adults may also experience maltreatment in the form of self-neglect and/or abandonment. The types of abuse are defined below.

Forms of victimization include (but are not limited to) bullying or peer victimization, physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, robbery, and assault. Some of these forms of victimization are commonly associated with certain populations, but they can happen to others as well.

Social isolation and mental impairment (such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease ) are two factors. Recent studies show that nearly half of those with dementia experienced abuse or neglect. Interpersonal violence also occurs at disproportionately higher rates among adults with disabilities.

Elder neglect can often lead to serious health problems for the victim, including malnutrition, dehydration, bedsores, and even death.

Physical evidence plays an important role in determining claims of elder abuse, particularly in cases involving physical violence, neglect, or inadequate care. This evidence typically includes documentation of injuries sustained by your loved one, such as bruises, cuts, fractures, or bedsores.

Unusual Behavior

Giving away money, transferring assets to people, unusual spending behavior, checks being written to cash or the unexplained disappearance of cash or property are warning signs that something isn't right.

What is passive neglect? ›

Passive neglect – the failure by a caregiver to provide a person with the necessities of life including, but not limited to, food, clothing, shelter, or medical care, because of failure to understand the person's needs, lack of awareness of services to help meet needs, or lack of capacity to care for the person.

In almost 90 percent of the elder abuse and neglect incidents with a known perpetrator, the perpetrator is a family member, and two-thirds of the perpetrators are adult children or spouses.

In the United States prisons in general, and specifically in New York prisons, four primary types of victimization of the inmates take place: (a) sexual; (b) psychological; (c) economic; and (d) social victimization.

Burglary, robbery, and fraud are the crimes most frequently committted against the elderly. Older individuals placed in extended care facilities may be physically abused or defrauded of personal possessions by staff members.

Particularly common among the elderly are larceny, shoplifting, and driving while intoxicated. Many causes can be pointed to -loss of prestige upon retirement, psychological problems, boredom, feelings of helplessness -- but economic need is especially critical.

Some types of abuse of older adults involve violation of their rights. Financial abuse is considered the most common form of abuse of older adults. Neglect can be part of abuse. Neglect involves not doing something, such as not providing the older person with food, shelter, medication, or care.