Statewide Profile of Abuse of Older Women and the Criminal Justice Response: Summary

• NCJ Number: 222460
• Author(s): Andrew Klein Ph.D.; Terri Tobin Ph.D.; Amy Salomon Ph.D.; Janice Dubois M.S.W.
• Date Published: December 2008
• Length: 18 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2006-WG-BX-0009
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: Statewide Analysis of Elder Abuse

Annotation

A summary is presented of a federally supported study profiling the abuse of older women in Rhode Island as reported to police and the criminal justice system response.

Abstract

Study results indicate larger than expected intimate abuse among older women (50 years and older), especially among married couples, supplemented by even greater abuse by mostly male predatory offspring and grandchildren as women reach age 60. Specifically, as women victims of abuse age, the percent abused by current or former intimate partners declined from 62.4 percent for those aged 50 to 59 to 34.3 percent for those aged 60 and older. As older women victims reach 60 years or older, the abuse by non-intimate family members increased significantly from 35.5 percent to 65.2 percent. In the first of its kind study and funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, researchers examined every domestic violence report made to State and local law enforcement across the State of Rhode Island in 2002 involving women victims, 50 years or older, whether or not police ultimately arrested the alleged suspect. References and appendix