Save older people from ‘hate crime’ of abuse
THE Daily Express today backs calls from campaigners for a change in the law to make those who prey on the elderly guilty of hate crimes.
They are demanding an end to a scandal that affords little protection to pensioners while criminality motivated by race, sexual orientation, disability or domestic abuse are recognised as aggravated offences.
Around 1 million older people are victims of physical, financial, psychological and sexual abuse each year, yet criminal convictions are rare and sentences far too lenient.
Incredibly, age is not a strand of hate crime under current legislation and prosecutors say they are unable to apply for tougher sentences as a result.
Campaigners say the law needs to be urgently changed to make abuse of the elderly a specific crime, with appropriate sentencing to reflect crimes which are the lowest of the low.
Gary FitzGerald, chief executive of charity Action on Elder Abuse, said: “For far too long we have seen older people routinely neglected and abused across the UK with no end in sight. The systems designed to protect seem incapable of doing so and the law fails to deliver justice for the victims.
“Too often we see cruel or uncaring care and health providers get away with their crimes. And too often we see abusive friends and family do the same. They either get a slap on the wrist, or a police caution, or in very few cases end up in court and get a suspended sentence or community service.
“They never receive the sentence that the public expects and demands. How much longer can this go on?” Elder abuse encompasses physical assault, sexual assault and harassment, coercion, threats and intimidation, theft and fraud, and neglect.
Each year money and precious belongings worth £42million is taken from pensioners. In 2016/17, there was a decrease in police referrals to the CPS for crimes against older people compared to a year earlier from 3,568 to 3,467 resulting in 2,783 suspects charged.
The number of successful convictions in England and Wales in 2016/17 was just 2,856 – down on 3,012 a year earlier – representing less than three per cent of the estimated total number of crimes committed (one million).
There can be a disparity between annual figures for those charged and successful convictions because some are charged in one calendar year and convicted in another.
Last night our campaign received cross party support in Parliament.
Tory MP David Davies said: “I completely support calls for a change in the law to make these absolutely appalling and widespread problems hate crimes. Those responsible for these type of crimes must be properly punished.”
Lib Dem MP and former health minister Norman Lamb said: “Identifying older people as a vulnerable group in the same way as other groups are already identified is absolutely right.”
There is no statutory definition of a crime against an older person and no We reported the ‘bully company’ scandal last week specific legislation. Barrister James Byrne, of 9 Gough Square in London, said: “The courts do recognise abuse of trust and vulnerability as aggravating factors during sentencing but a specific aggravated offence would not only send out a message, loud and clear, that such dreadful criminality will not be tolerated, it will also offer comfort to elderly victims and their families that those who commit such mean offences will be marked, and that they will get appropriate well targeted sentences determined by Parliament.” The call for legislation comes after a string of crimes by doorstep salesmen and carers went largely unpunished. Last week a gang who made £17million bullying the vulnerable to buy poor, overpriced furniture were given a total of just three years in prison. Salesmen from Life Comfort Products Ltd bullied and intimidated dementia and multiple sclerosis sufferers into buying beds and chairs. They deliberately targeted homes across Britain with disabled access ramps. Seven employees pleaded guilty to professional diligence charges contrary to consumer protection legislation. The husband and wife directors were jailed for 12 and nine months respectively; their two main accomplices were given less than a year each while the rest of the team were handed suspended sentences or cautions. The maximum penalty is a fine and two years’ imprisonment.