Traditional crime statistics underestimate the occurrence of elder abuse and lack the detail required to fully understand and prevent this form of victimization. Because Adult Protective Services (APS) agencies are often first responders to elder abuse, this study examined the use of APS data as an alternative metric to monitor the scope of the problem and plan for future needs as the U.S. population ages. The study identified a set of key indicator statistics, developed a taxonomy to uniformly measure elder abuse, and surveyed APS agencies to assess their data system capacity to generate key indicator statistics. The study found both potential for and challenges to compiling APS-based elder abuse statistics across states because of variation in elder abuse laws, agencies’ investigative jurisdictions, and data system capacity.
Assessment of Administrative Data on Elder Abuse, Mistreatment, and Neglect: Final Technical Report
NCJ Number
251777
Date Published
June 2021
Length
194 pages
Abstract
Date Published: June 22, 2021