Elder Physical Abuse and Failure to Report Cases

Abstract

Treated initially as a social problem, elder abuse has only recently been criminalized. The criminalization of elder abuse involves penalizing offenders for actively abusing offenders as well as for violating mandatory reporting laws. Mandatory reporting laws exist to encourage professionals to report suspected cases of elder abuse. In this study, attention is given to the way that failure to report elder abuse cases are adjudicated in comparison to elder physical abuse cases. Content analysis was performed on a sample of case descriptions of elder physical abuse cases and failure to report cases. Results suggest that mandatory reporting offenses are adjudicated slightly differently than physical abuse cases, and the dynamics surrounding the two offense types vary as well. Implications including the need for broader penalties and better training of human services professionals are suggested.