1. ‘The Accidental Tourist’: A Personal Narrative of the Evolution of Elder Abuse in the Criminal Justice System Distinguished Lecture Candace J. Heisler

2. The Context “No place for a woman” Law school Feminism 8% women
“65 Club”
Feminism
“Not me!”

3. “In the Beginning”
The Early 1970s
The District Attorney’s Office
Law Enforcement Environment
Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse

4. Political Environment The Rise of Domestic Violence
Accidental Tourist, Part 1
Legal Changes

5. Domestic Violence
Legal Changes
Felony DV Battery with Injury (Penal Code 273.5)
Mandates and Training (Penal Code 13700, 13701, 13519)
Then What Happened?

6. What does this all have to do with elder abuse?

7. The Early Days of Elder Abuse
The Problem
No Voices Demanding Justice
Our Response
“Be careful what you wish for”

8. Accidental Tourist, Part II
Aging Imperative
Basic Principles
Victim safety
Offender accountability
Domestic Violence Tactics and Dynamics
System Accountability

9. Confronting Myths and Misconceptions
Victim “prosecutes”
Victims are poor and unreliable witnesses
Victims do not desire prosecution
Elderly offenders
“Not thrive in jail”
Can’t send grandpa to jail
Not dangerous

10. Addressing Justifications for Elder Abuse
Stress
“It’s civil”
Victim’s fault

11. Lessons Learned Need for multidisciplinary response
Mrs. F
Value of specialized teams
Criminal Justice System must work with civil bar
Ms. D
Need for good laws

12. Legal Changes Elder Abuse Crime (PC 368) Arrest authority (PC 836(d))
Restitution orders roll into civil judgments (PC 1214(b))
Trial setting priority (PC 1048)
Right to support persons (PC 868.5)
Admissibility of prior bad acts (Evidence Code 1109)
Conditional examinations (PC )

13. Good Laws Are Not Enough
Training
Law Enforcement
Prosecutors
Advocates
Court Officials
Court Involvement and Awareness
Effective Court Practices for Abused Elders (2008)
Specialized victim-advocacy

14. No Criminal Law? Borrow or Import
Child abuse
MDT and Information sharing
Framework for elder abuse (PC 368)
Reporting Law
Child Death Review Teams
Criminal Law
Strangulation
Civil Law
Restitution orders
Undue Influence
Depositions were model for conditional examinations

15. Challenges
How big is the problem?
No national definition
Not in FBI’s NIBRS (National Incident-Based Reporting System)

16. Lack of specialized experts
Challenges
Lack of specialized experts
Forensic centers
Medical examiners, geriatricians, gero-psychiatrists and gero-psychologists
Shrinking numbers of specialized law enforcement and prosecution units

17. "The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped."
-Senator Hubert H. Humphrey at the dedication of the Hubert H. Humphrey building in Washington, DC, November 4, 1977