NCJ Number
215547
Date Published
October 2005
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This report shows trends in the incidence of reported cases of elder abuse in Illinois and its victim characteristics and abuser characteristics between State fiscal years 1993 and 2003.
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). These data were obtained from the Illinois Department on Aging, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, and the National Center on Elder Abuse. 2 figures