The Department of Justice is working to protect the growing number of older Americans. In the last two years, those efforts were stepped up through the Department's Nursing Home Initiative and its Elder Justice efforts. These activities have focused on enhancing enforcement, training, coordination, outreach, attention to medical forensic elder issues, and boosting the use of reliable criminal background checks for direct care workers. The Department's Elder Justice activities include:

Stepped Up Civil and Criminal Enforcement in Cases Impacting Older People

• failure of care prosecutions against institutions whose wrongdoing results in serious harm or death of residents and false statements to the government
• creation of State Working Groups to enhance coordination of federal, state, and local entities on these issues
• health care fraud cases against those who deplete public programs designed to benefit older people, with recoveries of more than $1.7 billion between October, 1999 and January 1, 2001
• consumer fraud prosecutions of telemarketing, Internet, credit card and advance-fee fraud, and the creation of Elder Fraud Protection Teams in five cities
• civil rights enforcement to redress discrimination against older people resulting from predatory lending and violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act

Grants, Technical Assistance and Other Efforts
The Office of Justice Programs has provided support to a broad range of state and local efforts aimed at reducing and preventing victimization of older people, including:

• domestic violence and sexual assault against older women
• consumer fraud including telemarketing fraud
• training for prosecutors, investigators, bank tellers, and elder advocates
• elder abuse and neglect prevention in institutions and at home

Publications
The Office of Justice Programs has published reports on Elder Justice-related topics. Recent reports include:

• Medical Forensic Aspects of Elder Abuse and Neglect. This report notes that our knowledge of elder abuse and neglect in 2000 is about where child abuse was 30 years ago, and calls for more research, training, coordination, and funding.
• Promising Practices to Prevent Elder Victimization. This report describes the proceedings of a national symposium sponsored by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services that featured promising multidisciplinary approaches to redress all types of elder victimization.
• Crimes against Persons Age 65 or Older, 1992-97. A statistical report that provides data from the National Crime Victimization Survey and the Uniform Crime Reports to summarize levels and rates of violent and property crimes against persons age 65 or older.

For more information about the Department components that are most active in this area, consult the Office of Justice Programs, Civil Division, Criminal Division, Civil Rights Division, and The Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys web sites.

  Last Updated: 02/09/04