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Chapter 14 Supplement Victimization of the Elderly

• A 1999 AARP survey designed to assess consumer behavior, experiences and attitudes found that older consumers are especially vulnerable to telemarketing fraud. Of the people identified by the survey who had suffered a telemarketing fraud, 56% were age fifty or older (NCL 10 January 2000).
• According to the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study, nearly one-half of all substantiated reports of elder maltreatment involved neglect (48.7%), followed by emotional/

psychological abuse (35.4%), financial/material exploitation (30.2%), physical abuse (25.6%), abandonment (3.6%), and sexual abuse (0.3%) (NCEA September 1998).

• Three out of four elder abuse and neglect victims suffer from physical frailty. About one-half (47.9%) of substantiated incidents of abuse and neglect involved elderly persons who were not physically able to care for themselves, while 28.7% of victims could care for themselves marginally (Ibid.).

FORGOTTEN VICTIMS OF FINANCIAL CRIME CONFERENCE

(Portions of this section are excerpted from Forgotten Victims of Elder Financial Crime and Abuse: A Report and Recommendations by Lisa Nerenberg for the National Center on Elder Abuse, Washington, DC and the Goldman Institute on Aging, San Francisco, CA, August 1999.)

At the Forgotten Victims of Financial Crime conference held in San Francisco, California, in October 1998, criminal justice professionals met for a series of roundtable discussions to better understand the role that the justice system has in addressing elder financial crime, the remedies and resources it offers, and special challenges to serving the elderly. Sponsored by the National Center for Elder Abuse in conjunction with the Northern California Office of the U.S. Attorney and the Goldman Institute on Aging, the roundtable discussions focused on elder financial fraud within each of the four systems: criminal justice, civil justice, victim/ witness assistance, and federal investigative and regulatory agencies. Following is a summary of conclusions and recommendations agreed upon in the areas of statutory reform, procedural innovation, elder victims right, and training:

Statutory reforms.

• Promote the development of criminal statutes that facilitate the prosecution of financial crimes against the elderly, recover and preserve assets to the greatest extent possible, and create adequate penalties that will serve as a deterrent to future crimes.

• Review financial crimes and assess whether certain crimes currently handled on the local and state levels could be handled more efficiently as federal crimes.

• Promote the development of civil statutes that create incentives for civil attorneys to handle financial abuse; cover all types of financial abuse including those where the offender has a close relationship with the victim; define mental capacity in functional terms; use broad definitions of undue influence; and expand the range of protective interventions available to the courts to conform to the needs of vulnerable victims.

• Promote measures to ensure that victims of financial crimes enjoy the same rights as victims of violent crimes.

• Promote preventive measures to reduce the risk of financial abuse and reduce losses.

Procedural innovations.

• Development of specialized units in prosecutors' offices to work with elderly victims of crime.

• Development of specialized units within law enforcement for financial crimes against the elderly, ensuring that experienced personnel are available for ongoing training.

• Development of special procedures for handling elder fraud cases.

• Development of programs and materials aimed at ensuring elderly victims' rights, including court watch programs using volunteers to observe how the courts handle cases involving elder financial crimes; and development of large print referral cards that provide information on victims' rights and services with regard to elder fraud.

• Services and policies that address the emotional needs of elderly victims of financial crime, including facing the trauma of losing one's assets and the betrayal of trust this crime engenders.

• Pro bono legal assistance to recover losses, annul bogus marriages, contest guardianships, enforce restitution orders, and call for accountings on powers of attorney.

• Pro bono private investigators to track down the location of the offender and stolen assets.

• Shelters for people who become homeless as a result of financial abuse.

• Social services including assistance with finding alternative housing, moving possessions, setting up new bank accounts, and finding trustworthy attendants.

• Credit counseling programs.

Elder victims' rights. Elder victims should be allowed to access victim services and compensation programs even if they are not willing to report criminal conduct. If programs mandate cooperation, that requirement should be interpreted to deny coverage only when the victim's behavior makes prosecution impossible.

Training. With regard to elder victims who agree to press charges against their offenders, there is a lack of tools available to easily assess mental deficits using functional criteria that would provide guidance for the courts. Also lacking are instruments or protocols for assessing undue influence that take into account ongoing patterns of persuasion. Ongoing training for judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, probation officers, and victim advocates about the dynamics of elder financial crime and how it relates to other forms of elder abuse is needed in the following areas:

• Restitution and its importance to the elder victim.

• Mental capacity evaluations.

• Undue influence.

• Community resources.

• Crafting effective orders for monitoring guardianships.

• Training of expert witnesses to testify in criminal and civil matters, to explain the indicators and dynamics of financial abuse, its relationship to other abuses, mental capacity, and undue influence.

• Elder-Sensitive Response Protocols, San Diego County, CA. The Elder Crime Unit at the San Diego County, CA, District Attorney's Office has developed special response protocols for assisting the local population of 350,000 seniors in reporting elder victimization. Three prosecutors and an advocate vertically prosecute all cases. They have developed an elder-sensitive response protocol and procedures for evidence collection from elder victims. Because seniors may have difficulty providing evidence to law enforcement officers, the advocate checks all police reports daily for dates of birth and follows up with every victim over sixty-five. The unit works with emergency rooms in hospitals to improve detection of elder physical abuse. Prosecutors speak at banking conferences to heighten awareness of senior-related irregular money management. They monitor "boiler room" telemarketers and bogus charities that are active in the county and frequently visit retirement communities to inform them of the kinds of calls that they can expect and discuss how to respond to them. Office of the District Attorney, 330 West Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101 (619-531-3464).

• Outreach to Seniors on Elder Abuse, Ventura County, CA. The Victim/Witness Assistance staff assigned to the Elder Abuse Unit at the Ventura County District Attorney's Office has developed a comprehensive set of bilingual outreach publications and programs for elders and their families to make them aware of and help them to avoid elder abuse and fraud. When the staff receive a police report of elder abuse, whether or not a crime has been committed, they send out a packet of materials to the potential elder victim. The senior crime prevention handbook is a large print guide for identifying fraud schemes such as home repair scams, fake delivery schemes, and sweepstakes offers; financial crimes; and physical and psychological abuse and neglect. A laminated card is included in the packet that includes referrals to community services agencies that support elders. In addition, Elder Abuse Victim/Witness staff makes presentations at seniors' clubs, seniors' daycare facilities, and seniors' apartment complexes to discuss elder abuse and fraud. They conduct bi-weekly radio addresses on subjects related to elder abuse. Through the Meals-On-

Wheels program, they disseminate information about elder financial abuse, elder physical abuse, and caregiver fraud on the paper placemats that arrive on the food trays. For nonreaders, they have developed audiotapes about elder fraud in English and Spanish. District Attorney, County of Ventura, 800 South Victoria Avenue, Ventura, CA 93009.

• They Can't Hang Up. The National Consumers League's (NCL) elder fraud project has produced a free consumer education brochure, available in bulk, on help for the elderly targeted by telemarketing frauds. The brochure advises how to help the elderly recognize that callers may not be legitimate; how the elderly can protect themselves from being targets of fraud and means of testing the caller; and how to recognize if an elder relative or friend is a target of fraud. NCL also offers a twenty-minute video with personal stories told by fraud victims and helpful advice for seniors and their families, available for a small fee. National Consumers League, 1701 K Street, NW, Suite 1200, Washington D.C. 20006 (800-876-7060).

• Eldercare Locator. The Eldercare Locator is a nationwide directory assistance service sponsored by the Administration on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to assist seniors and caregivers in finding local community assistance for aging Americans. Weekdays 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST (800-677-1116).

• Elder Victims of Crime Assistance Program, Palm Beach County, FL. A five-county, support-to-elderly-victims program has been established in Palm Beach County, FL, at the Area Agency on Aging. The service provides crisis intervention, personal advocacy, criminal justice support and advocacy, and assistance in filing for victim compensation. Elder Victims of Crime Assistance Program Area Agency on Aging Palm Beach, Treasure Coast, 8895 Military Trail, Suite 201C, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 (561-694-7601).

Chapter 14 Supplement References

National Consumer League (NCL). 10 January 2000. Report to the U.S. Department of Justice Concerning Telemarketing and Internet Fraud. Citing AARP survey, 1999. Washington, DC: Author.

Nerenberg, L. August 1999. Forgotten Victims of Elder Financial Crime and Abuse: A Report and Recommendations. Washington, DC: National Center on Elder Abuse and San Francisco, CA: Goldman Institute on Aging.

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