Campaigners demand new law to end abuse of elderly people

A statutory offence of elder abuse should be introduced in Scotland to ensure the justice system hands out tougher sentences to criminals who prey on vulnerable older people, campaigners will tell MSPs today.

A new statuatory hate crime of eldery abuse could be considered. Picture: John Devlin/Stock

Age Scotland and Action on Elder Abuse Scotland will tell the Scottish Parliament’s justice committee that a new law should be introduced to protect elderly people from emotional and financial abuse. They will also call for the introduction of a new “statutory aggravator” which would allow the age of the victim to be taken into account during any criminal trial.

MSPs agreed to look at the potential of a new law to deal with elder abuse after the subject was raised during the drafting of the Domestic Abuse Bill which was introduced last year.

It was also highlighted by Lord Bracadale during his independent review of hate crime in Scotland, with the former Court of Session judge recommending the Scottish Government consider “a new statutory aggravation based on age hostility”.

According to Action on Elder Abuse Scotland, victims’ ages are not routinely logged by Police Scotland or the Crown Office making it difficult to gather data on the scale of elder abuse. However, the organisation says the information is gathered in England and Wales and shows that in 2017 of crimes involving the elderly, the majority were not acted upon, or they resulted in cautions or suspended sentences.

Ahead of today’s committee, Adam Stachura, head of policy with Age Scotland, said: “It makes sense to introduce a new crime of elder abuse as well as a statutory aggravator, not only to give prosecutors and judges more options, but to demonstrate loud and clear that Scotland is not a country where the abuse of older people is acceptable. The previous Lord Advocate said that legislation can be transformational and it can change society’s behaviour and its attitude towards behaviour, and that should never be overlooked.”

He added: “People are living longer and vastly more will live with dementia over the next 20 years, so legislation to deal with elder abuse would be a statement of intent, for now and in the future, that it must stop. We rightly have legislation in place to protect children, so we should also make every effort to afford older people every appropriate protection.”

The committee will also hear from other organisations, including Police Scotland and the Law Society of Scotland, before deciding on whether to take further action.