NCJ Number
215548
Date Published
August 2005
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This first in a series of publications on the elderly and the criminal justice system presented by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority examines the State and national problem of elder abuse based on data obtained from the Illinois Department on Aging, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, and a study commissioned by the National Center on Elder Abuse.
Abstract
Between State fiscal years 1993 and 2003, the number of reported cases of elder abuse in Illinois increased 85 percent despite a multiyear decline in crime in general in the State. The most common form of abuse was financial exploitation (34 percent), followed by emotional abuse (28 percent), passive neglect (22 percent), and physical abuse (10 percent). Deprivation was reported in 3 percent of the cases. The highest percentage of elder abuse victims lived in their own homes (80 percent), were White (75 percent), female (70 percent), widowed (48 percent), physically impaired (41 percent), and between the ages of 76 and 85 (39 percent). The highest percentage of alleged elder abusers were White (72 percent), were not likely to be a caregiver of the elderly victim (49 percent), were children of the victim (42 percent), and were financially dependent on the victim (22 percent). Data from the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program examined elder abuse in long-term care, board and care, and nursing facilities. In Illinois in fiscal year 2003, 426 cases of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation that occurred in residential facilities serving the elderly were closed (investigated and resolved, at least partially, to the complainant's satisfaction). There has been a 50-percent increase in closed elder abuse cases statewide since fiscal year 1996. By comparison, the number of closed elder abuse cases nationwide increased 46 percent during the same period, from 13,469 to 19,660 cases. 2 figures, 6 tables, and 11 notes