Our Aging Population: Promoting Empowerment, Preventing Victimization, and Implementing Coordinated Interventions

Hundreds of policymakers and practitioners representing public safety, social services, health care, and advocacy assembled in Washington, D.C., October 30–31, 2000, for a rare opportunity to share information across disciplines about innovative ideas and programs to enhance efforts to prevent, reduce, and respond to the crime victimization of older people throughout the country.

Experience has demonstrated that multidisciplinary approaches, combining diverse expertise and the tools of a variety of entities, are most effective in addressing crime against older people. Indeed, experts and practitioners
strongly and consistently urge greater coordination among those who serve our aging population, those who create and regulate programs that serve older persons, and those who enforce laws designed to prohibit and redress
abuse, exploitation, fraud, and neglect. With this in mind, the U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) combined their respective public safety and social services approaches in planning this symposium. The symposium featured promising programs and projects that have brought together social service agencies, advocates, medical professionals, public safety officials, law enforcement personnel, and others
to work toward empowering older people to live safely and implementing more effective strategies to prevent and respond to victimization.

The symposium was framed around three topical themes: financial exploitation and consumer fraud, elder abuse and neglect at home, and institutional abuse and neglect. Each topic was addressed in a plenary session and a number of associated workshops focusing on promising approaches featuring strong collaborations between the public safety and social services disciplines.