Delay to change in laws leaves elderly without protection

ELDERLY people are being left without protections “they deserve” as tougher sentences to punish thugs deliberately targeting them may not come into force for another two years.

Last October, the Home Office asked the Law Commission to examine whether age or misogyny should be grounds for classing an incident a hate crime.

But it is understood that the consultation will not be made public until next year at the earliest.

This means law changes that would see those targeting the elderly treated the same as racist thugs – and hit with longer jail terms – are unlikely to come into force until at least 2021.

Dr John Beer, chairman of Action on Elder Abuse, said: “We simply cannot fathom why this review is taking so long to get going.

Abuse

“Around a million older people suffer horrific abuse each year in our country, and time and again we see the tiny number of perpetrators that get prosecuted escaping with flimsy suspended sentences and fines.

“As a society, we accept that where victims are targeted due to personal characteristics such as their race or religion, punishments should be tougher to send a message that these kinds of crimes won’t be tolerated.

“And yet despite older people being victimised daily precisely because they’re perceived as vulnerable, we seem to be happy to let this intolerable state of affairs continue.”

Jayne Connery, director

of Care Campaign For The Vulnerable, said: “It’s selfevident that older, vulnerable, people are often abused because they are an easy target, completely unable to defend themselves.

“It’s a stain on our society that elderly people should be left for a moment longer without the necessary legal protections.” Currently,

hate crimes are based on victims’ race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

The law change would see England and Wales follow Scottish judges in considering “gender hostility” and “age hostility”.

A commission spokesman said: “The Government has asked the Law Commission

to conduct a wide-ranging review of the adequacy and parity of protection relating to hate crime. This includes consideration of whether age should be protected by these laws. We will be conducting formal consultation on our reform proposals in early 2020 and will present our final report to government in early 2021.”