Elder Maltreatment & Elder Justice

In 2012, AoA awarded 5 cooperative agreements to test elder abuse prevention interventions to: Alaska Division of Senior and Disabilities Services (AK DSDS); New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA); University of Southern California-Irvine, Program in Geriatrics (USC); University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC); and, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and

In 2006, as part of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, Congress directed the Secretary of HHS to conduct a study, in consultation with the Attorney General, assessing current elder abuse data collection systems and examining the feasibility of establishing a uniform national elder abuse database to improve the quality and accessibility of data (P.L. 109-432).

The purpose of this paper is to provide background information which summarizes various perspectives on the definitions, incidence and causes of abuse of elderly citizens in institutional and domestic settings. Also, this paper will describe the range of programs, both in HHS and in the states, that address elder abuse.