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Question: What does this bill do?
It creates a combined law enforcement and public health approach to study, detect, treat, prosecute and, most importantly, prevent elder abuse, neglect and exploitation. After 25 years of congressional hearings on elder abuse without a legislative response, the Elder Justice Act marks the beginning of new horizons in the detection and prevention of elder abuse. The bill would:
- Coordinate efforts and develop leadership at the national level, by creating an Office of Elder Justice within the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services, creating a federal home and secure funding for adult protective services activities at the federal level, and creating a public and private Elder Justice Coordinating Council to assure coordination of efforts at all levels and to fund and assist such entities at the state and local levels;
- Create an “Elder Justice Research Center” and library
to
- educate the public and to provide information on the prevention of elder abuse and best practices in addressing the problem to interested entities throughout the country
- fund research entities throughout the country to better develop our knowledge base on the issue
- include the area of “at risk” elders, providing a focus on the development of forensic capacity in the area of elder abuse, and increasing the capacity of prosecutors throughout the country to bring elder abuse charges;
- Develop resources to protect consumers, increase collaboration and prevent abuse in long-term care settings; and
- Evaluate funded projects and research to identify successful approaches to elder abuse prevention, prosecution, and victim services.