Finding New Ways to Curb Elder Abuse

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Pages: 20
• Citation: Vol. 46 No. 4 Pg. 20
• Publication year: 2023

Finding New Ways to Curb Elder AbuseVol. 46 No. 4 Pg. 20Wyoming Bar JournalAugust, 2023

It was early January of 1974. I was 21 years old. I had just completed my law degree at Leeds University in UK and had learned one thing from law school. I did not want to be a lawyer at that time. So instead I applied to Voluntary Service Overseas, the UK equivalent of the Peace Corps.

I was sent out to a rural community about 30 miles west of Mombasa in Kenya where I was expected to teach in a village high school. On my first morning there, I walked to the store along a narrow path bordered by thick undergrowth. A young boy no more than about 10 years of age was walking towards me from the opposite direction. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks and bowed his head slightly and uttered a word, "Marahaba."

When I reached the store, I asked the owner what the Swahili word "Marahaba" meant. He smiled and explained that it was a term of respect. "For what?" I asked.

That is when I was first introduced to the concept of respect for someone who was older. For two years I lived in that culture. Whenever I came across an older adult, I would take the time to recognize my elders and give them the respect they deserved.

That was 1974. How times have changed!

Kenya (along with every other nation) is facing a growing social and criminal justice crisis. Sadly, it appears that our treatment of older adults across the world has deteriorated over the past few decades. Elder abuse is no longer a "western civilization" problem. It is global and it is escalating.

Tragically we read-often daily- of incidents where older adults both in the United States and across the globe have become victims of fraud, scams, physical, mental and sexual abuse and neglect.

For 22 years-from 1996 to 2018- I had the privilege of heading up the San Diego District Attorney's Elder Abuse Prosecution Unit. During that period, I handled many serious criminal cases of elder abuse that included homicides,

Marahaba!

Finding New Ways to

Curb Elder Abuse

by Paul Greenwood

sexual and other physical assaults, emotional abuse, neglect, false imprisonments and financial exploitation of older adults whose ages ranged from 65 to 102. And it became abundantly clear that an effective response to combat this crime involves more than law enforcement, social services or prosecutors. We need to engage people from all walks of life such as mail carriers, bank tellers, clergy, hairdressers, elder law attorneys, fiduciaries, notary publics, neighbors and adult children of aging parents.

Here in the United States we refer to the crime of "elder abuse" and yet there is no common definition of that term. Some states have an age-based definition of elder victims. For example, California uses 65, Colorado 70 and Illinois 60. Other...