Elder Abuse and Social Policy

The key argument advanced in this chapter is that an accelerating interest in elder abuse is central to understanding it as a modern crime as a social phenomenon. It will be argued that the ‘discovery’ of elder abuse legitimises practice in which the social policymakers monitor but does not intervene. This has led to a social situation that has radically transformed crime of its traditional rationale as processing offenders who engage in elder abuse. One intended consequence of these policies has been to transfer the financial and emotional responsibilities for elder abuse to social welfare agencies rather than criminal justice agencies. Such a social policy has found resolution through an emphasis on forms of abuse perpetrated by carers on older service users. This sudden concern for the safety and financial security of older people, who are service users, legitimises a role for welfare professionals when we should be questioning why elder abuse is not seen in the same criminalised way as child abuse.