The study, which is not available online, compared the number of cases reported to law enforcement agencies that serve the aging and other authorities with those mentioned in 4,000 random phone surveys of people 60 and older. One would expect that some cases would go unreported, and thus it is generally understood that such offenses are unreported.
The extent of unreported offenses was, however, shocking. According to the study, for every elder abuse case reported to a mandated enforcement agency, the survey found, 23.5 unreported cases actually occurred. What's more, for each case of financial abuse of elders reported to authorities, 43.9 actually occurred. Finally for each reported case of neglect of an elderly person, 57.2 cases of neglect actually occurred. One can only be shocked that such a vast array of offenses against the elderly go completely unreported.
The extent of unreported cases helps to explain why abuse, financial fraud, and neglect are so prevalent among the elderly. Aside from what may be a natural vulnerability among some segments of the elderly population, it is obvious that perpetrators can repeat offend with relative impunity. Imagine for a second how prevalent convenience store robberies would be if only one out of every 57 store owners victimized even reported the crime!
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