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Elder Abuse: A Human Rights Agenda for the Future

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Beyond Elder Law

Abstract

Only relatively recently has elder abuse has been recognised by governments as a major social problem. For too long it has been hidden and ignored. Even now it has been accepted as an issue requiring state attention, many countries are still struggling to find the correct legal response. Elder abuse, it has been claimed, has reached the position domestic violence did several decades ago. There is now an acceptance of the problem and that something needs to be done, but there is much dispute over what the correct response is.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    House of Commons Health Committee, Elder Abuse (The Stationery Office, 2004), at 1.

  2. 2.

    District Judge Marilyn Mornington, Responding to Elder Abuse (Age Concern, 2004).

  3. 3.

    World Health Organisation (2002).

  4. 4.

    E.g. Dixon et al. (2010).

  5. 5.

    Brammer and Biggs (1998).

  6. 6.

    Hawks (2006).

  7. 7.

    House of Commons Health Committee, Elder Abuse (The Stationery Office, 2004), at 1.

  8. 8.

    McCreadie (2002).

  9. 9.

    McCreadie (1996).

  10. 10.

    For a discussion of the benefits of a single definition see O’Connor and Rowe (2005).

  11. 11.

    Phillipson and Biggs (1995), at 202.

  12. 12.

    World Health Organisation (2002).

  13. 13.

    There is, for example, no requirement that the act is unjustified.

  14. 14.

    Brandl and Meuer (2001).

  15. 15.

    Department of Health (2000).

  16. 16.

    Dixon et al. (2010).

  17. 17.

    Madden Dempsey (2006). See also Madden Dempsey (2009a).

  18. 18.

    This includes the location of the violence (the home) and the relationship between the parties (an intimate or familial one).

  19. 19.

    She defines these (at 314) as ‘social structures that sustain or perpetuate the uneven distribution of social power’. See also Johnson (1995).

  20. 20.

    For further discussion, including some concerns with the detail of that approach see Herring (2011a).

  21. 21.

    O’Keeffe et al. (2008). See also Mowlam et al. (2008) and Cooper et al. (2008).

  22. 22.

    The report explains (at 3) “’mistreatment’ is used to describe both abuse and neglect. There are four types of abuse: psychological, physical and sexual abuse (sometimes referred to collectively as ‘interpersonal abuse’) and financial abuse.”

  23. 23.

    O’Keeffe et al. (2008), at 4.

  24. 24.

    Ibid, para. 7.4

  25. 25.

    Hussein et al. (2007).

  26. 26.

    Cooper et al. (2008).

  27. 27.

    Choudhry and Herring (2006).

  28. 28.

    L.C.B. v. the United Kingdom, 9 June 1998, Sect. 36, Reports 1998-III.

  29. 29.

    Osman v. the United Kingdom, 28 October 1998, Sect. 115, Reports 1998-VIII.

  30. 30.

    Opuz v Turkey [2009] ECHR 33401/02.

  31. 31.

    Para. 129.

  32. 32.

    Ilascu and others v. Moldova and Russia [GC], no. 48787/99, 08 July 2004, para. 440.

  33. 33.

    Ireland v. the United Kingdom 2 EHRR 25.

  34. 34.

    See Price v. the United Kingdom, no. 33394/96, paras. 24–30 and Valašinas v. Lithuania [2001] ECHR 479.

  35. 35.

    Campbell and Cosans v. UK (1982) 4 EHRR 293; Tyrer v. UK (1978) 2 EHRR 1.

  36. 36.

    Pretty v. UK, [2002] ECHR 423, at para. 52

  37. 37.

    Wolf (1997).

  38. 38.

    Albert and Le Compte v. Belgium, judgment of 10 February 1983, Series A, no. 58, para. 22.

  39. 39.

    A v UK [1998] 3 FCR 597, E v UK [2002] 3 FCR 700.

  40. 40.

    Z v UK [2001] 2 FCR 246.

  41. 41.

    A v UK [1998] 3 FCR 597, para. 24.

  42. 42.

    Z v UK [2001] 2 FCR 246, para. 73.

  43. 43.

    E v UK [2002] 3 FCR 700.

  44. 44.

    A v UK [1998] 3 FCR 597, para. 20.

  45. 45.

    See Choudhry and Herring (2010), ch. 8 and 9.

  46. 46.

    E v UK [2002] 3 FCR 700.

  47. 47.

    MC v Bulgaria (2005) 40 EHRR 20.

  48. 48.

    MC v Bulgaria (2005) 40 EHRR 20.

  49. 49.

    [2009] ECHR 33401/02.

  50. 50.

    Para. 143.

  51. 51.

    Addo and Grief (1998).

  52. 52.

    Although the state may argue that the victim’s views make it unreasonable for the state to intervene.

  53. 53.

    E v UK [2002] 3 FCR 700.

  54. 54.

    Choudhry and Herring (2007).

  55. 55.

    Herring and Taylor (2006); Choudhry and Fenwick (2005).

  56. 56.

    This seeks to develop a dicta of Lord in Re S (A Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) [2005] 1AC 593 at para. 17, which refers to the need to consider the values underlying the right when considering cases of clashing rights.

  57. 57.

    Williams (2008).

  58. 58.

    For example, Da Silva Mouta v Portugal (2001) 31 EHRR 47 added sexual orientation to the list.

  59. 59.

    Rutherford (No 2) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry [2006] UKHL 19.

  60. 60.

    For further discussion see Choudhry and Herring (2010), chapter 2.

  61. 61.

    CPS (2010).

  62. 62.

    Salari (2006).

  63. 63.

    Giles et al. (1993).

  64. 64.

    Fitzgerald (2006).

  65. 65.

    Royal College of Psychiatrists (2000).

  66. 66.

    Schuyler and Liang (2006).

  67. 67.

    Department of Health (2005).

  68. 68.

    Quinn and Tomita (1986).

  69. 69.

    Social Exclusion Unit (2005).

  70. 70.

    Straka and Montminy (2006).

  71. 71.

    But see Pritchard (2001).

  72. 72.

    Whittaker (1996).

  73. 73.

    See Madden Dempsey (2009b), chapter 7, for an excellent discussion of the intersection of different forces in the context of domestic violence.

  74. 74.

    Aitken and Griffin (1996), chapter 3.

  75. 75.

    Turell (2000); Levit (2002).

  76. 76.

    Manthorpe (2006).

  77. 77.

    See Herring (2010), chapter 10 for a detailed discussion.

  78. 78.

    National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, section 47 gives a right to be assessed if one is in need and Mental Health Act 1983, s. 135 gives an approved social worker the right to apply to move to a place of safety a person suffering from a mental disorder. But neither of these offer effective protection in most cases of elder abuse: Williams (2008).

  79. 79.

    Law Commission (1997).

  80. 80.

    See also Action on Elder Abuse (2008).

  81. 81.

    Dunn and Foster (2010).

  82. 82.

    The Care Standards Act 2000 saw the terms ‘nursing homes’ and ‘residential homes’ replaced by ‘care homes’ for institutions.

  83. 83.

    Biggs (1996a).

  84. 84.

    Glendenning (1993).

  85. 85.

    See also Royal College of Psychiatrists (2000).

  86. 86.

    Payne and Fletcher (2005); Thobaben and Duncan (2003).

  87. 87.

    Brogden (2001).

  88. 88.

    Royal College of Psychiatrists (2000).

  89. 89.

    Terry (1997).

  90. 90.

    Royal College of Psychiatrists (2000), at 6.

  91. 91.

    Royal College of Psychiatrists (2000).

  92. 92.

    Wanlass (2006).

  93. 93.

    Herring (2000).

  94. 94.

    [2006] EWHC 2584 (Fam).

  95. 95.

    For example, Re M (Care Proceedings: Judicial Review) [2003] EWHC 850 (Admin).

  96. 96.

    See Herring (2011b).

  97. 97.

    Pritchard (2000).

  98. 98.

    Crime and Disorder Act 1998, sections 28–32.

  99. 99.

    Metropolitan Police (2000), 21.

  100. 100.

    CPS (2008), para. 11.

  101. 101.

    Para. 3.2.

  102. 102.

    There has been some debate over whether the focus should be on the abuse of vulnerable adults or elder abuse: Slater (2005).

  103. 103.

    See Burton (2008), chapter 1 for a brief summary.

  104. 104.

    Herring (2010) chapter 6 for further discussion.

  105. 105.

    Walsh et al. (1999).

  106. 106.

    For a detailed discussion, from which the following is drawn, see Herring (2011c).

  107. 107.

    Pritchard (2007).

  108. 108.

    National Center on Elder Abuse (2002), at 3.

  109. 109.

    Bennet et al. (1997), at 54.

  110. 110.

    National Center on Elder Abuse (2002) at 3.

  111. 111.

    Brandl and Cook-Daniels (2002); Bergeron (2001). Brandl and Raymond (1997); Bennet et al. (1997).

  112. 112.

    Gainey and Payne (2006).

  113. 113.

    Bergeron (2001).

  114. 114.

    Herring and Choudhry (2006).

  115. 115.

    Whittaker (1996) at 78.

  116. 116.

    See Herring (2008).

  117. 117.

    Department of Health (2002), para. 2.3 suggested all vulnerable people should be covered by an overarching approach. Previously, Department of Health (1993) had focussed specifically on elder abuse. For discussions of the changing approach see Slater (2005).

  118. 118.

    Department of Health (2002), at para. 2.3

  119. 119.

    It might be argued that being the victim of abuse automatically renders a person vulnerable, but there seems no reason why this is necessarily so, if the incident has no likelihood of repetition and has no lasting effects.

  120. 120.

    House of Commons Health Committee (2004), evidence 163.

  121. 121.

    See Burton (2008), chapter 1 for a brief summary.

  122. 122.

    Phillips et al. (2000).

  123. 123.

    Biggs (1996b).

  124. 124.

    Meyer and Post (2006).

  125. 125.

    Campbell Reay and Browne (2001).

  126. 126.

    Kosberg and MacNeil (2005).

  127. 127.

    Herring (2009).

  128. 128.

    Doron et al. (2004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exeter College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Jonathan Herring

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  1. Jonathan Herring
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Gerontology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 31 905, Israel

    Israel Doron

  2. Policy and Aging, National Institute of Law,, Metcalfe 1155, Montreal, H3B 2V6, Canada

    Ann M. Soden

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Herring, J. (2012). Elder Abuse: A Human Rights Agenda for the Future. In: Doron, I., Soden, A. (eds) Beyond Elder Law. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25972-2_8

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