The combined effect is that more people will be responsible for taking care of their aging parents in coming years, causing an increase in stress and leading ultimately to abuse. West Virginia already experiences over 6,000 annual cases of elder abuse, and officials believe five times that many goes unreported. Many state lawmakers recognize the problem and hope to introduce legislation to fund workers who periodically relieve family caregivers. Facing a similar crisis of its own, Connecticut introduced a new state elder abuse unit last fall. West Virginia media has also focused on the state health-care system's response to violence against women in the home.
Reports note a lack of medical training in the state to identify and respond to domestic violence.
The state is currently part of a federally-funded pilot program to address these issues. The District of Columbia recently joined 27 states in posting a list of dangerous sex offenders on its Web site. The list includes a warning against vigilantism and using the list to harass or threaten sex offenders. Pennsylvania has developed a Web site to provide users instant access to the latest crime statistics for towns, counties, regions, college campuses, and the state as a whole. Users can bring up statistics for more than 30 different offenses.