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Impact of an elder abuse multidisciplinary team on prosecution rates

Impact of an elder abuse multidisciplinary team on prosecution rates. Joyce DeMonnin, MPH, CHES; Rick Knapp, JD, and Grady Tarbutton. What is elder abuse relating to the criminal justice system?.

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Impact of an elder abuse multidisciplinary team on prosecution rates

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  1. Impact of an elder abuse multidisciplinary team on prosecution rates Joyce DeMonnin, MPH, CHES; Rick Knapp, JD, and Grady Tarbutton

  2. What is elder abuse relating to the criminal justice system? Any crime in which the victim (65 of older) may have been targeted because of his or her age, or was harmed due to vulnerability of age or disability.

  3. Washington County Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team Elder Abuse MDT members include mental health professionals, adult protective service workers, prosecutors, emergency services personnel, law enforcement, victim advocates and private attorneys. Members meet each month to staff cases, identify gaps in services, barriers to prosecution and better ways to share information.

  4. Criminal justice barriers to investigating elder abuse • Concern over civil vs criminal issues • Lack of understanding of what may constitute an elder abuse crime • Isolation and inability of elders to report crime • Shame of elder reporting victimization by family members

  5. Training key to MDT success • Learn issues of elder abuse from criminal justice, medical and social services perspectives • Learn to speak each other’s language • Agree on common goals and methods • Know who community partners are

  6. Elder abuse trainining for law enforcement, APS, EMTs

  7. Clergy Training Members of the faith community are mandatory reporters in Oregon, but reports rarely come from them. The MDT held a training for pastors and laity to increase their knowledge of signs and symptoms of elder abuse, and how to report it, in addition to many other groups.

  8. Abstracting information from police reports Elder Safe staff track information such as relationship of suspect to victim, whether or not the suspect uses drugs or alcohol, type of crime, age of victims and other information.

  9. Impact of MDT on prosecution rates Since the inception of the Elder Abuse MDT, referrals for prosecution increased 570% in Washington County over a four-year period. Elder Safe Program Starts MDT starts

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