Perceptions of Adult Protective Services Workers of the Support Provided by Criminal Justice Professionals in a Case of Elder Abuse

• NCJ Number: 188758
• Journal: Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect Volume: 12 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 2000 Pages: 71-94
• Author(s): B. E. Blakely Ph.D.; Ronald Dolon Ed.D.
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper summarizes the results of a 1997 survey of adult protective services workers in 43 States, with attention to respondents' ratings of police and victim assistants in detecting and treating elder abuse and estimates of the likelihood that criminal justice professions would provide 10 forms of assistance in a case of elder abuse.

Abstract

Respondents also reported the most helpful services supplied by criminal justice professionals, the services that were most difficult to obtain, and overall ratings of criminal justice professionals in cases of elder abuse. On average, police were rated by respondents as more than somewhat helpful, both in detection and treatment. More than 52 percent of the respondents considered police to be helpful or very helpful in uncovering elder abuse, and 47.5 percent felt that police were helpful or very helpful in the treatment of elder abuse. At the other end of the spectrum, only 17.1 percent of the respondents reported that police were not very helpful or of no help at all in detecting elder abuse, and 21.7 percent provided the same ratings of police in the treatment of elder abuse. Ratings of victim assistants were lower than the ratings for police. On average, respondents indicated that victim assistants were less than somewhat helpful in both the detection and treatment of elder abuse. Respondents were asked about the likelihood that criminal justice professionals would provide 10 forms of assistance in a case of severe physical abuse of an elderly father by his son. The only service that was considered to be at least somewhat likely was that police officers would escort workers to the home of the client. More than 80 percent of the respondents reported that it was somewhat or very likely that escorts would be available. Slightly more than 50 percent of the respondents felt that it was at least somewhat likely that criminal justice professionals would help to stop the abuse, conduct a thorough investigation, secure a protective order, or issue a restraining order. 3 tables and 57 references