We must end this terrible violence against the old
THE human race is divided into two camps: those who say “something must be done about this” and those who say, “I will do something about this.” Where is the politician in Britain today who is prepared to do something about the obscene escalation in crimes against the elderly? Who will galvanise their fellow lawmakers into mandating severe punishment for those who cause old people pain and misery?
The shocking statistics revealed by the Daily Express yesterday should shame us all. A 260 per cent rise in assaults on the over-65s in the past decade gives a sickening snapshot of the risks the elderly face but does not paint a full picture of the anguish and agony they suffer.
Nor does it even begin to highlight the wickedness and depravity of those who prey on them. As a nation, let’s stop tut-tutting and saying something must be done – let’s damn well do it right now.
Back in the 1960s, American vice-president Hubert Humphrey declared: “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” By any yardstick, successive governments in Britain have proved to be dismal failures when judged by Humphrey’s moral test.
YESTERDAY’S paper made grim reading, possibly too much for some of you to bear. The case histories from around the country of elderly men and women who had been subjected to the most appalling ordeals was stomach-churning, including the case of Zofija Kaczan, a 100-year-old widow who died nine days after an attack that left her with a broken neck.
In 2017, a staggering 26,474 people in their twilight years were the victims of assault. That’s 500 a week – or to really bring home the terrible toll, some 70 a day. Seventy people who had earned the right to live in peace and safety but whose existence had been transformed into one of pain and fear – every single day of the year.
This newspaper’s Respect For The Elderly crusade demands a change in the law to give pensioners greater protection. It is a demand which must be heard and acted upon.
Let no one – lawyer or MP – say it’s too complex an issue to be enshrined in law. Because other countries around the world have managed to do just that. One part of the United Kingdom, Scotland, is to its great credit set to introduce laws to protect the elderly so that attackers, mental abusers or fraudsters automatically receive a harsher sentence for a crime on anyone over 65.
Because of its deadly obsession with guns, we often perceive America to be a lawless country, a throwback to the days of the Wild West. In its treatment of those who offend against old people, however, it is a paragon of virtue because in 1976, the US was one of the first countries in the world to bring in legislation to protect the elderly.
Punishments vary from state to state and a list of 50 statutes would make dull reading. So let’s just consider the way in which justice is meted out in a handful of states.
In Nevada, an offender who commits a crime against anyone over 60 is subject to a prison sentence twice as long as that normally allowed for the same offence against a younger person. A Louisiana law mandates that all violent crimes against the elderly be punished by a minimum of five years in jail with no parole.
California’s “elder abuse” laws cover a variety of crimes and a variety of situations. “Elder abuse” can be any of the following if the victim is over 65: physical abuse by inflicting pain or injury; emotional abuse such as causing mental suffering through isolation or ridicule; neglect and wilfully placing someone in a situation where their health or safety is endangered; financial exploitation.
SPECIFIC examples of scenarios that can lead to charges of elder abuse in California include: a nursing-home worker sexually molesting a resident. An adult son or daughter deliberately withholding medication from an elderly parent. A person taking advantage of an elderly relative’s senility to divert her pension and welfare payments to their own use.
The prosecution can at its discretion treat the offence as a felony, in which case the offender can be jailed for a minimum of between two and four years and fined thousands of dollars at the judge’s discretion.
Florida, where 30 per cent of residents are over 60, takes an even tougher line. Assault and battery crimes escalate to the next level if an elderly person is involved, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 (£3,870). In the most serious cases, aggravated battery becomes a felony of the first degree, with 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
So it most certainly can be done. In Canada, the first state to bring in protection laws for the elderly was Newfoundland in 1973, and the vulnerability of older victims has “a significant impact on sentencing” for offenders. Japan, Israel, South Korea and Slovenia have also introduced laws making targeting the elderly an “aggravated crime”.
So what is stopping our Government from following suit? Are our lawmakers incompetent, heartless or lazy? It is estimated that two million people aged 60 and over suffer abuse in the UK every year.
We can no longer tolerate a society in which so many people are frightened to grow old.
‘Harsher sentences for offences on over-65s’