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Elder abuse in Europe’s “most elderly” city: an assessment of the phenomenon and an analysis of the data from the Penal Court of Genoa from 2010 to 2015

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Abstract

Introduction

In Italy, 5% of the elderly are estimated to have suffered abuse. While the Penal Code refers to generic types of abuse, such as physical and psychological maltreatment, abandonment and financial fraud, it does not specifically protect the elderly as a category.

Aims

To assess the frequency and modalities of elder abuse in Genoa and its Province, and to compare these data with those reported in the literature, in order to provide a picture of the current situation that can be used by the authorities to combat this phenomenon.

Methods

We analysed the first-degree verdicts issued by the Court of Genoa regarding accusations of physical, psychological and moral abuse and maltreatment of elderly subjects (over 65 years) in the period 2010–2015.

Results

Only 85 of the 4028 court verdicts analysed involved elderly persons: 19 cases of domestic maltreatment, 3 of abuse of the means of correction or discipline, 18 of personal injury, 5 of abandonment and 40 of circumvention (deceiving someone, especially an elderly or mentally impaired person, to obtain a profit).

Discussion and conclusions

A gap was observed between the number of crimes reported to the judicial authorities (tip of the iceberg) and the estimated prevalence of the phenomenon in the literature. There is a need both to create a network of protection for the elderly involving medical and judicial specialists and to train healthcare professionals to better recognise and report cases of maltreatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DIMEL, Department of Legal Medicine, University of Genoa, Via De Toni 12, 16122, Genova, Italy

    Andrea Molinelli, Francesco Ventura, Sara Lo Pinto, Martina Drommi & Francesco De Stefano

Authors
  1. Andrea Molinelli
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  2. Francesco Ventura
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  3. Sara Lo Pinto
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  4. Martina Drommi
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  5. Francesco De Stefano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrea Molinelli.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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This article does not involve clinical studies or contain patient data.

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Molinelli, A., Ventura, F., Pinto, S.L. et al. Elder abuse in Europe’s “most elderly” city: an assessment of the phenomenon and an analysis of the data from the Penal Court of Genoa from 2010 to 2015. Aging Clin Exp Res 29, 1285–1290 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-017-0738-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-017-0738-3

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