CRIME AND ELDER ABUSE ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brian K. Payne received his Ph.D. in Criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1993. He is professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at Georgia State University. He has published over one hundred and thirty articles in scholarly journals on topics such as elder abuse, white-collar crime, and methods of social control. He is the author of four previous books including Drugs and Policing: A Scientific Perspective, Incarcerating White-Collar Offenders, Crime in the Home Health Care Field, and Family Violence and Criminal Justice: A Life Course Approach (coauthored with Randy R. Gainey). Third Edition CRIME AND ELDER ABUSE An Integrated Perspective By BRIAN K. PAYNE, PH.D. Department of Criminal Justice Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia Published and Distributed Throughout the World by CHARLES C THOMAS • PUBLISHER, LTD. 2600 South First Street Springfield, Illinois 62704 This book is protected by copyright. No part of it may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved. ©2000, 2005, 2011 by CHARLES C THOMAS • PUBLISHER, LTD. ISBN978-0-398-08639-8 (hard) ISBN 978-0-398-08640-4 (paper) ISBN 978-0-398-08641-1 (Ebook) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2010050540 First Edition, 2000 Second Edition, 2005 Third Edition, 2011 WithTHOMAS BOOKScareful attention is given to all details of manufacturing and design. It is the Publisher’s desire to present books that are satisfactory as to their physical qualities and artistic possibilities and appropriate for their particular use. THOMAS BOOKSwill be true to those laws of quality that assure a good name and good will. Printed in the United States of America CR-R-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Payne, Brian K. Crime and elder abuse : an integrated perspective / by Brian K. Payne. -- 3rd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-398-08639-8 (hard) -- ISBN 978-0-398-08640-4 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-0-398-08641-1 (ebook) 1. Older people--Abuse of. 2. Older people--Abuse of--Investigation. 3. Older people--Crimes against. I. Title. HV6626.3.P39 2011 364.15’55--dc22 2010050540 To Kathleen, Chloe, Charles, and Claire PREFACE About thirty-five years ago, the concept of granny battering appeared in British medical journals and was used to describe a host of abusive acts committed against elderly persons. Since then, a number of other concepts have been used to replace this politically incorrect concept. Perhaps the most popular concepts are elder abuse and elder mistreatment. Attention from social scientists from various disciplines has increased in the eighties and nineties. Noticeably rare, however, is criminological input into the study of elder abuse. This book offers a criminological foundation from which increased understanding about elder abuse will evolve. It is my belief that the interdisciplinary nature of the elder abuse problem requires a cooperative effort among scholars researching the topic. Indeed, elder abuse is an issue that relates to several different disciplines including criminology, gerontology, social work, social welfare, sociology, psychology, victimology, medicine, and a host of other social sciences. Further, an inte- grated effort among practitioners responding to abuse is needed to effective- ly handle cases of elder abuse. Given the steady increase in the proportion of older persons in our society, it is expected that there will be more elderly victims in the future. Therefore, it is imperative that attention be given to the victimization experiences of elderly persons. The reader will note that I refrain from using a specific age to describe when abusive actions become elder abuse as opposed to some other type of crime. I avoid setting an age restriction, such as sixty-five which is the age that the Social Security Administration uses to describe what is meant be “elderly,” because I am more interested in the general ways in which older victims (as opposed to younger victims) are perceived, handled, studied, and treated. Also of interest is the way that consequences of victimization are experienced differently by elderly persons. It is my belief, however, that “classifying the elderly into a single group can do more disservice than good” (Doerner & Lab, 1998, p. 204). The basis of Doerner and Lab’s quote is that there is tremendous variation in the characteristics of persons over a certain age, such as sixty-five. Age is certainly a relative concept. As an example, one day I was talking to my vii viii Crime and Elder Abuse neighbor, Alice, who was in her late seventies at the time, when another neighbor who was in his nineties drove by in his automobile. The neighbor I was talking to quickly said, “I hope I’m like him when I get old. I want to be able to get around the way he does.” Neither of my neighbors defined themselves by their age; rather, they seemed to define themselves by what they were able to do. So, when I refer to the phrases “crimes against elderly persons” and “elder abuse,” I am talking about general trends and am not suggesting that all per- sons who are older are going to experience victimization in the same way. In general, though, older victims experience abuse in different ways than younger victims do. This third edition of Crime and Elder Abuse: An Integrated Perspective builds on the earlier edition in five ways. First, new research has been added into each chapter, with more than one hundred new sources added. Second, the tables and figures have been updated, with applied critical thinking questions included in order to make the tables and figures more interactive with read- ers. Third, Chapters 2 through 8 now include updated box inserts titled “From the Field,” which include brief overviews discussing some aspect of elder abuse. Fourth, Chapter 8 is new to this edition. The chapter provides insight into developing collaborative response systems. Finally, an Appendix including an exercise to understand how older individuals are often trapped in abusive relationships has been added. B.K.P. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Iam indebted to many persons whose input, insight, and assistance made this book possible. Randy Gainey (Old Dominion University), Garland White (Old Dominion University), Ed Stevens (Troy State University), and countless undergraduate and graduate students at Old Dominion University and Georgia State University read various parts of this book and challenged me to see and explain ideas from an integrated perspective. I am also indebt- ed to my Georgia State University research assistants—Tatum Dorsey, Maria Gomez, Erin Marsh, and Elizabeth Yates—for completing the various last- minute assignments I threw their way. Also, let me thank the many fine scholars whose works are cited through- out this book. May their efforts continue to expand our understanding of this devastating problem. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my family—Kathleen, Chloe, Charles, and Claire—for their love and support. ix