II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 205

To establish research, development, and dissemination programs to assist

State and local agencies in preventing crime against the elderly, and

for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 26 (legislative day, JANUARY 5), 1993

Mr. ROTH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish research, development, and dissemination programs to assist State and local agencies in preventing

crime against the elderly, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Triad

5 Program Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) older Americans are among the most rapidly

9 growing segments of our society;
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1 (2) currently, the elderly comprise 15 percent of

2 our society, and predictions are that by the turn of

3 the century they will constitute 18 percent of our

4 Nation’s population;

5 (3) older Americans find themselves uniquely

6 situated in our society, environmentally and phys7 ically;

8 (4) many elderly Americans are experiencing in9 creased social isolation due to fragmented and dis10 tant familial relations, scattered associations, limited

11 access to transportation, and other insulating fac12 tors;

13 (5) physical conditions such as hearing loss,

14 poor eyesight, lessened agility, and chronic and de15 bilitating illnesses often contribute to an older per16 son’s susceptibility to criminal victimization;

17 (6) our elders are too frequently the victims of

18 abuse and neglect, violent crime, property crime,

19 consumer fraud, medical quackery, and confidence

20 games;

21 (7) studies have found that elderly victims of

22 violent crime are more likely to be injured and re23 quire medical attention than are younger victims;

24 (8) victimization data on crimes against the el25 derly are incomplete and out of date, and data
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1 sources are partial, scattered, and not easily

2 obtained;

3 (9) although a few studies have attempted to

4 define and estimate the extent of elder abuse and

5 neglect, both in their homes and in institutional set6 tings, many experts believe that this crime is sub7 stantially underreported and undetected;

8 (10) similarly, while some evidence suggests

9 that the elderly may be targeted in a range of fraud10 ulent schemes, neither the Uniform Crime Report

11 nor the National Crime Survey collects data on

12 individual- or household-level fraud;

13 (11) law enforcement officers and social service

14 providers come from different disciplines and fre15 quently bring different perspectives to the problem

16 of crimes against the elderly;

17 (12) these differences, in turn, can contribute

18 to inconsistent approaches to the problem and in19 hibit a genuinely effective response;

20 (13) there are, however, a few efforts currently

21 under way that seek to forge partnerships to coordi22 nate criminal justice and social service approaches to

23 victimization of the elderly;

24 (14) the Triad program, sponsored by the Na25 tional Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), the International
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1 Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and the

2 American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), is

3 one such effort;

4 (15) recognizing that older Americans have the

5 same fundamental desire as other members of our

6 society to live freely, without fear or restriction due

7 to the criminal element, the Federal Government

8 seeks to expand efforts to reduce crime against this

9 growing and uniquely vulnerable segment of our

10 population; and

11 (16) our goal is to support a coordinated effort

12 among law enforcement and social service agencies

13 to stem the tide of transgenerational violence against

14 the elderly and to support media and nonmedia

15 strategies aimed at increasing both public under16 standing of the problem and the elderly person’s

17 skills in preventing crime against themselves and

18 their property.

19 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

20 The purpose of this Act is to address the problem

21 of crime against the elderly in a systematic and effective

22 manner with a program of practical and focused research,

23 development, and dissemination designed to assist States

24 and units of local government in implementing specific

25 programs of crime prevention, victim assistance, citizen in-
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1 volvement, and public education that offer a high prob2 ability of improving the coordinated effectiveness of law

3 enforcement and social service efforts. The efforts of local

4 coalitions, such as the Triad model being piloted in a num5 ber of areas by National Sheriffs’ Association, Inter6 national Association of the Chiefs of Police, and American

7 Association of Retired Persons, are of particular interest.

8 SEC. 4. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND DISSEMINATION.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National In10 stitute of Justice (referred to as the ‘‘Director’’) shall con11 duct a national assessment of—

12 (1) the nature and extent of crimes against the

13 elderly;

14 (2) the needs of law enforcement, health, and

15 social service organizations in working to prevent,

16 identify, investigate, and provide assistance to vic17 tims of those crimes; and

18 (3) promising strategies to respond effectively

19 to those challenges.

20 (b) MATTERS TO BE ADDRESSED.—The national as21 sessment made pursuant to subsection (a) shall address—

22 (1) the analysis and synthesis of data from a

23 range of sources in order to develop accurate infor24 mation on the nature and extent of crimes against

25 the elderly, including identifying and conducting
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1 such surveys and other data collection efforts as are

2 needed and designing a strategy to keep such infor3 mation current over time;

4 (2) the problem of the most vulnerable and

5 hard-to-reach elderly who are in poor health, are liv6 ing alone or without family nearby, or are living in

7 high crime areas;

8 (3) the problem of elderly who are abused and

9 neglected, sometimes in the home and sometimes in

10 health care facilities, sometimes subjected to phys11 ical abuse and at other times to verbal aggression

12 and neglect;

13 (4) the problem of fear of victimization, which

14 inhibits the freedom of the elderly and can make

15 them prisoners in their homes;

16 (5) the identification of strategies and tech17 niques that have been shown to be effective, or ap18 pear to hold promise of being effective, in respond19 ing to the problems described in this subsection and

20 in preventing, reducing, and ameliorating the impact

21 of crime against the elderly;

22 (6) the analysis of the factors that enhance or

23 inhibit development of a coordinated response by law

24 enforcement, health care, and social service provid-
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1 ers to crimes against the elderly and the treatment

2 of elderly victims; and

3 (7) the research agenda needed to develop a

4 comprehensive understanding of the problems of

5 crimes against the elderly, including the changes an6 ticipated in the crimes themselves and appropriate

7 responses as our society increasingly ages, and the

8 identification and evaluation of effective and fiscally

9 feasible approaches to prevent and reduce victimiza10 tion of our Nation’s elderly citizens.

11 (c) DISSEMINATION.—Based on the results of the na12 tional assessment and analysis of successful or promising

13 strategies in dealing with the problems described in sub14 section (b) and other problems, including coalition efforts

15 such as the Triad programs referred to in sections 2 and

16 3, the Director shall disseminate the results through re17 ports, publications, clearinghouse services, public service

18 announcements, and programs of evaluation, demonstra19 tion, training, and technical assistance.

20 SEC. 5. PILOT PROGRAMS.

21 (a) AWARDS.—The Director may make awards to

22 coalitions of local law enforcement agencies, victim service

23 providers, and organizations representing the elderly for

24 pilot programs and field tests of particularly promising

25 strategies and models for forging partnerships for crime
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1 prevention and service provision based on the concepts of

2 the Triad model, which can then be evaluated and serve

3 as the basis for further demonstration and education pro4 grams.

5 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—Pilot programs funded under this

6 section may include existing general service coalitions of

7 law enforcement, victim service, and elder advocate organi8 zations that wish to use additional funds to work at a par9 ticular problem in their community, such as fraud, bur10 glary, or abuse and neglect, or to target a particular geo11 graphic area in need of intensive services.

12 SEC. 6. EVALUATION AND DISSEMINATION AWARDS.

13 In conjunction with the national assessment under

14 section 4 and the pilot programs under section 5, the

15 Director may make awards to—

16 (1) coalitions of national law enforcement, vic17 tim service, and elder advocate organizations, for the

18 purposes of providing training and technical assist19 ance in implementing pilot programs, including pro20 grams based on the concepts of the Triad;

21 (2) research organizations, for the purposes

22 of—

23 (A) investigating the types of elder victim24 ization shown by the national assessment to
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1 present particularly critical problems or to be

2 emerging crimes about which little is known;

3 (B) evaluating the effectiveness of selected

4 pilot programs; and

5 (C) conducting the research and develop6 ment identified through the national assessment

7 as being critical; and

8 (3) public service advertising coalitions, for the

9 purposes of mounting a program of public service

10 advertisements to increase public awareness and un11 derstanding of the issues surrounding crimes against

12 the elderly and promoting ideas or programs to

13 prevent them.

14 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

15 Of amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Na16 tional Institute of Justice under section 1001(a)(2) of the

17 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42

18 U.S.C. 3793(a)(2)), $5,000,000 shall be available to carry

19 out this Act, of which—

20 (1) up to $2,000,000 may be used to fund up

21 to 20 pilot programs;

22 (2) up to $1,000,000 may be used to fund a na23 tional training and technical assistance effort;

24 (3) up to $1,000,000 may be used to develop

25 public service announcements; and
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1 (4) up to $1,000,000 may be used for the na2 tional assessment, the evaluation of pilot programs,

3 and the carrying out of the research agenda.

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