I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1161
To establish research, development, and dissemination programs to assist
in collaborative efforts to prevent crime against senior citizens, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 1, 1993
Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. HAYES, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr.
BAKER of Louisiana, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BLACKWELL,
Mr. COBLE, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. EVANS,
Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas, Mr. GINGRICH, Mr. GOSS, Mr. GUTIERREZ,
Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. HYDE, Mr. KING, Mr. LANCASTER, Mr. LEVY, Mr.
KNOLLENBERG, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCCRERY, Mr. MCNULTY, Mrs.
MALONEY, Mr. MAZZOLI, Mrs. MEEK, Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas, Mrs.
MORELLA, Mr. PETRI, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr.
SCOTT, Mr. SISISKY, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. WELDON, and Mr. WISE) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To establish research, development, and dissemination pro-
grams to assist in collaborative efforts to prevent crime
against senior citizens, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Triad Pro-
gram Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) senior citizens are among the most rapidly
growing segments of our society;
(2) currently, senior citizens comprise 15 per-
cent of our society, and predictions are that by the
turn of the century they will constitute 18 percent
of our Nation’s population;
(3) senior citizens find themselves uniquely situ-
ated in our society, environmentally and physically;
(4) many senior citizens are experiencing in-
creased social isolation due to fragmented and dis-
tant familial relations, scattered associations, limited
access to transportation, and other insulating fac-
tors;
(5) physical conditions such as hearing loss,
poor eyesight, lessened agility, and chronic and de-
bilitating illnesses often contribute to a senior citi-
zen’s susceptibility to criminal victimization;
(6) senior citizens are too frequently the victims
of abuse and neglect, violent crime, property crime,
consumer fraud, medical quackery, and confidence
games;
(7) studies have found that senior citizens that
are victims of violent crime are more likely to be
injured
and
require
medical
attention than
are
younger victims;
(8) victimization data on crimes against senior
citizens are incomplete and out of date, and data
sources
are
partial,
scattered,
and
not
easily
obtained;
(9) although a few studies have attempted to
define and estimate the extent of abuse and neglect
of senior citizens, both in their homes and in institu-
tional settings, many experts believe that abuse and
neglect crimes are substantially underreported and
undetected;
(10) similarly, while some evidence suggests
that senior citizens may be targeted in a range of
fraudulent schemes, neither the Uniform Crime Re-
port nor the National Crime Survey collects data on
individual- or household-level fraud;
(11) many law enforcement agencies do not
have model practices for responding to the criminal
abuse of senior citizens;
(12) law enforcement officers and social service
providers come from different disciplines and fre-
quently bring different perspectives to the problem
of crimes against senior citizens;
(13) the differences in approaches can inhibit a
genuinely effective response;
(14) there are, however, a few efforts currently
under way that seek to forge partnerships to coordi-
nate criminal justice and social service approaches to
victimization of senior citizens;
(15) the Triad program, sponsored by the Na-
tional Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), the International
Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and the
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), is
one such effort; and
(16) recognizing that senior citizens have the
same fundamental desire as other members of our
society to live freely, without fear or restriction due
to the criminal element, the Federal Government
should seek to expand efforts to reduce crime
against this growing and uniquely vulnerable seg-
ment of our population.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to support a coordinated effort among law
enforcement and social service agencies to stem the
tide of violence against senior citizens and support
media and nonmedia strategies aimed at increasing
both public understanding of the problem and the