Elder Abuse Case Study

Elder abuse does not possess the momentum in present time like that of child abuse as seen in both federal and Arizona state law. As such the definition of abuse remains standardized across both entities in forms of physical, sexual, emotional, neglect, or exploitation. The Arizona Attorney General (n.d.) characterizes a majority of victims as 75 years of age and up, two-thirds are female, possessing one or more physical or mental impairments, widowed or divorced and socially isolated, and usually live with the abuser. These characteristics are often associated to leading factors of vulnerability found in elderly individuals and ultimately can become victim to abuse or exploitation. In 2016, the state of Arizona investigated 7,596 cases of

Due to changing demographics in the United States and the inheriting secrecy of abusive behavior, elder abuse is a relatively new social problem recognized by scholars over the last half of the twentieth century (Hattery & Smith, 2016). As research continues to be compiled, federal agencies developed state entities to protect the interests of the elderly by defining acts of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. In Arizona, the Department of Economic Security (DES) handles reports of alleged abuse or neglect through the Adult Protective Services (APS). The APS acknowledges the same definition of abuse as standardized by federal agencies and is responsible for reporting both suspected data and substantiated data to federal agencies for the purpose of statistical analysis. The Arizona Department of Economic Security (2016) reported that between 2012 and 2016 exploitation was 27.58% of the whole compared to the 25.6% of investigated abuse cases. Due to the weight of exploitation on elderly victims in the form of financial schemes targeted at older age groups and family abuse, federal acts and state laws are strongly focused on preventing and enforcing justice against these

Therefore, there seems to be very little conflict between the two entities with exception to how federal and state laws define elder abuse. Some states only cover vulnerable older adults with physical or cognitive limitations, while other states cover adults over a specific age (Zeranski & Halgin, 2011). The state of Arizona is such a state that refers to the vulnerable adult and federal definition refers to an older adult as 60 years of age and older. Though there are obviously more mitigating circumstances in proving abuse allegations in elder abuse cases than that of a child, it is surprising that the failure to report only carries a misdemeanor charge in comparison to a felony charge in events involving children. Considering that elder abuse is observed as a new social issue in comparison to child abuse, it seems that research and protective laws are in a severe need to catch up with other abuse scenarios. The comparison of federal law and Arizona state law does provide the necessary support for a mandated reporter and encourages any witness to suspected events to file a