Presence of Injuries in Elder Victims: Findings from 2014 NIBRS Data

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

Research in elder abuse has sought to understand the occurrence of physical injury among older victims of abuse, categorizing abuse and comparing intentionally injured versus accidentally injured older adults. This growing body of knowledge is missing one important component: how often injuries occur in older adults who have been victimized. This study uses 2014 NIBRS data (N=1,070,147) to evaluate how frequently crimes reported to law enforcement in the United States have resulted in visible physical injury to victims aged 60 years and older. Using law enforcement reports from the 33 participating states, six categories of crime are analyzed that are prone to result in injury: rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, burglary, purse-snatching. Preliminary results indicate that 4.3% of these criminal incidents reported had older adult victims. Among older victims (n=530,574), injuries were reported in 44.3% of cases as opposed to 51.5% of cases involving adults under age 60 (p<.0001). By comparing injured and uninjured elders, this work moves forward a growing knowledge base drawn largely from existing work on forensic markers and justice system outcomes. Advancing understanding of these phenomena holds the potential for informing justice and law enforcement practitioners and impacting outcomes for older victims of crime.

Authors

• Gerson Galdamez, University of Southern California

• Zachary D Gassoumis, University of Southern California