A study on the underresearched topic of elderly sexual victimization combined multiple data sources: German police crime statistics, 122 public prosecutor files on sexual victimization of people above age 60, survey data from 76 institutions assisting victims of sexual violence/domestic violence, in-depth interviews with 22 practitioners who had worked with sexually victimized elderly. The study shows that few cases of sexual victimization in old age are known to law enforcement agencies or victim services. Offences dealt with by the criminal justice system differ significantly from those known to battered women's shelters and victim services. The majority of incidents prosecuted by the criminal justice system are hands-off offences; hands-on offences are typically single incidents committed by strangers or loose acquaintances of the victim. Battered women's shelters and institutions of victim assistance are confronted with severe forms of sexual violence in intimate relationships, the prototypical case being an older woman who is repeatedly victimized by her husband over a considerable period of time and within a relationship characterized by a comprehensive system of violence, humiliation, and control (corresponding to Johnson's concept of intimate terrorism). The study demonstrates how small numbers of recorded cases of sexual violence in old age may reflect age-specific detection rates. It provides evidence on older victims' help-seeking behavior and on ways to improve victim services.
The main task of a federally funded model project in the German city of Hannover was to develop approaches for prevention and intervention in the field of domestic elder abuse. Over a three year period (1998-2001), different approaches--like a telephone helpline for senior citizens, and social workers operating as counsellors for elderly people and their relatives--were tested at a local level. The paper presents results from the evaluation of the project and draws conclusions for future prevention and intervention in the field. The authors argue that the explicit use of the conceptual framework of "violence"/"abuse" creates potentials for scandalizing the issue and is therefore supportive for media appearance, whereas it can impede the approach to the main target groups (elderly people and their relatives) and reduce accessibility of counselling services for potential clients. In the light of evaluation results the focus of the project ("domestic elder abuse" or "violence against elderly people in close relationships") was too narrow for a local project. Counselling services were used in a relatively small number of cases; analyses of cases show that incidents of domestic elder abuse are often embedded in complex problem constellations. Cases brought to the attention of the model project were multifaceted and not limited to incidents of neglect and abuse of elderly care recipients caused by caregiver overload. Cases of intimate violence in partnerships and of intergenerational violence without any of the participants being dependent on care show the need to develop a broader concept of domestic elder abuse. Integration of the concepts of domestic violence, violence against women, elder abuse/neglect and abuse/neglect in caregiving relationships is necessary on a conceptual level as well as on the level of interagency cooperation of institutions dealing with cases of "elder abuse".
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