The five programs are the Elder Protection Court (EPC) in Alameda County, CA; the Elder Justice Center (EJC) in Hillsborough County, FL; the In-Home Emergency Protective Order Initiative (IEPOI) in Jefferson County, KY; and the Elder Temporary Order of Protection Project (ETOP) in Kings County, NY; and the "Elder Justice Center (EJC) in Palm Beach County, FL. The evaluation's goal was to determine how these initiatives handle elder abuse cases and whether they improve the criminal justice response to elder abuse. The evaluation's standards for measuring the quality of the five programs were derived from the American Bar Association's (ABA's) "Recommended Guidelines for State Courts Handling Cases Involving Elder Abuse" and the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA's) "Trial Court Performance Standards With Commentary," as adapted to elder abuse by researchers at Florida International University (FIU). The current evaluation found that the five initiatives accomplished 87.5 percent of the ABA recommended guidelines (21 of 24) and 100 percent of the FIU standards (15 of 15). Each of the initiatives improved access to justice for elder-abuse victims, albeit in varying ways and to varying degrees. The evaluation concluded that each initiative does far more to meet the goals of the ABA guidelines and the FIU standards than courts and communities without court-focused elder-abuse initiatives. Details are presented on the features of each of the five initiatives. The evaluation's methodology consisted of a literature review, surveys and interviews of key stakeholders, case file reviews, and site visits. Recommendations are offered for future research.
Downloads
Similar Publications
- Bayesian Methods for Multinomial Sampling With Missing Data Using Multiple Hypergeometric Functions
- Evaluation Guidebook for Projects Funded by S.T.O.P. Formula Grants Under the Violence Against Women Act
- Examining the Dynamics of Serious Violent Incidents Among Inner-City, Adolescent, Public School Students in Atlanta, Georgia (From Trends, Risks, and Interventions in Lethal Violence: Proceedings of the Third Annual Spring Symposium of the Homicide Resear