1.This Act may be cited as
the Elder Abuse Victims Act of
2011
.
2.In this Act—
(1)the terms abuse,
elder, elder justice, exploitation, and
neglect have the meanings given those terms in section 2011 of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397j);
(2)the term
elder abuse includes neglect and exploitation;
(3)the term
Director means the Director of the Office appointed under section
3(b);
(4)the term
Office means the Office of Elder Justice established under section
3(a);
(5)the term
State means each of the several States of the United States, the
District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any other territory
of possession of the United States; and
(6)the term
task force means a multidisciplinary task force on elder justice
established or designated under section 5(c)(1).
3.
(a)There is established within the Department of Justice a
office to be known as the Office of Elder Justice, which shall address issues
relating to elder abuse.
(b)The
Office shall be headed by a Director who shall—
(1)be appointed by
the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from among
individuals with experience and expertise in elder abuse; and
(2)serve as counsel
to the Attorney General on elder justice and elder abuse.
(c)The
Director shall—
(1)create, compile,
evaluate, and disseminate materials and information, and provide the necessary
training and technical assistance, to assist States and units of local
government in—
(A)investigating,
prosecuting, pursuing, preventing, understanding, and mitigating the impact
of—
(i)physical, sexual,
and psychological abuse of elders;
(ii)exploitation of
elders, including financial abuse and scams targeting elders; and
(iii)neglect of
elders; and
(B)assessing,
addressing, and mitigating the physical and psychological trauma to victims of
elder abuse;
(2)collect data and
perform an evidence-based evaluation to—
(A)assure the
efficacy of measures and methods intended to prevent, detect, respond to, or
redress elder abuse; and
(B)evaluate the
number of victims of elder abuse in each State and the extent to which the
needs of the victims are served by crime victim services, programs, and sources
of funding;
(3)publish a report,
on an annual basis, that describes the results of the evaluations conducted
under paragraphs (1) and (2), and submit the report to each Federal agency,
each State, and the Committee on the Judiciary and the Special Committee on
Aging of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives;
(4)evaluate training
models to determine best practices, create replication guides, create training
materials, if necessary, for law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges,
emergency responders, individuals working in victim services, adult protective
services, social services, and public safety, medical personnel, mental health
personnel, financial services personnel, and any other individuals whose work
may bring them in contact with elder abuse regarding how to—
(A)conduct
investigations in elder abuse cases;
(B)address
evidentiary issues and other legal issues; and
(C)appropriately
assess, respond to, and interact with victims and witnesses in elder abuse
cases, including in administrative, civil, and criminal judicial
proceedings;
(5)conduct, and
update on a regular basis, a study of laws and practices relating to elder
abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including—
(A)a comprehensive
description of State laws and practices;
(B)an analysis of
the effectiveness of State laws and practices, including—
(i)whether the State
laws are enforced; and
(ii)if
enforced—
(I)how the State
laws are enforced; and
(II)how enforcement
of the State laws has effected elder abuse within the State;
(C)a review of State
definitions of the terms abuse, neglect, and
exploitation in the context of elder abuse cases;
(D)a review of State
laws that mandate reporting of elder abuse, including adult protective services
laws, laws that require the reporting of nursing home deaths or suspicious
deaths of elders to coroners or medical examiners, and other pertinent
reporting laws, that analyzes—
(i)the
impact and efficacy of the State laws;
(ii)whether the
State laws are enforced;
(iii)the levels of
compliance with the State laws; and
(iv)the response to,
and actions taken as a result of, reports made under the State laws;
(E)a review of State
evidentiary, procedural, sentencing, choice of remedies, and data retention
issues relating to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation;
(F)a review of State
fiduciary laws, including law relating to guardianship, conservatorship, and
power of attorney;
(G)a review of State
laws that permit or encourage employees of depository institutions (as defined
in section 3(c)(1) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(c)(1))
and State credit unions (as defined in section 101 of the Federal Credit Union
Act (12 U.S.C. 1752)) to prevent and report suspected elder abuse, neglect, and
exploitation;
(H)a review of State
laws used in civil court proceedings to prevent and address elder abuse;
(I)a review of State
laws relating to fraud and related activities in connection with mail,
telemarketing, the Internet, or health care;
(J)a review of State
laws that create programs, offices, entities, or other programs that address or
respond to elder abuse; and
(K)an analysis of
any other State laws relating to elder abuse; and
(6)carry out such
other duties as the Attorney General determines necessary in connection with
enhancing the understanding, prevention, detection, and response to elder
abuse.
4.The Attorney
General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services,
shall, on an annual basis—
(1)collect from
Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutor offices
statistical data relating to the incidence of elder abuse, including data
relating to—
(A)the number of
elder abuse cases referred to law enforcement agencies, adult protective
services, or any other State entity tasked with addressing elder abuse;
(B)the number and
types of cases filed in Federal, State, and local courts; and
(C)the outcomes of
the cases described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) and the reasons for such
outcomes;
(2)identify common
data points among Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and
prosecutor offices that would allow for the collection of uniform national
data;
(3)publish a summary
of the data collected under paragraphs (1) and (2);
(4)identify—
(A)the types of data
relevant to elder abuse that should be collected; and
(B)what entity is
most capable of collecting the data described in subparagraph (A); and
(5)develop
recommendations for collecting additional data relating to elder abuse.
5.Elder victims
grant program
(a)The Director may make grants and provide technical
assistance to not more than 15 States to assist the States in developing,
establishing, and operating programs designed to improve—
(1)the response to
cases of elder abuse in a manner that limits additional trauma to the elder
victims; and
(2)the investigation
and prosecution of cases of elder abuse.
(b)A
State is eligible to receive a grant under this section if the State—
(1)has a crime
victims compensation program that meets the criteria described in section
1403(b) of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10602(b)); and
(2)is in compliance
with subsection (c).
(c)Establishment
of task force
(1)In order to be eligible to receive a grant under this
section, a State shall establish or, subject to paragraph (5), designate a
multidisciplinary task force on elder justice that is composed of professionals
with knowledge and experience relating to the criminal justice system and
issues of elder abuse.
(2)Except as provided in paragraph (6), a task force
shall include—
(A)representatives
from law enforcement agencies, such as police officers, sheriffs and deputy
sheriffs, detectives, public safety officers, corrections officers,
investigators and victims' service personnel;
(B)a representative
from the crime victim compensation program of the State;
(C)judicial and
legal officers, including individuals who work on cases of elder abuse;
(D)elder justice and
elder law advocates, including local agencies on aging and local public and
private agencies and entities relating to elder abuse and other crimes against
elders;
(E)health and mental
health professionals;
(F)representatives
from social services agencies in the State;
(G)representatives
from adult protective services; and
(H)family members of
victims of elder abuse.
(3)A task force shall—
(A)review and
evaluate the investigative, administrative, and judicial responses to cases of
elder abuse in the State;
(B)make
recommendations to the State based on the review and evaluation conducted under
subparagraph (A), including recommendations relating to—
(i)modifying the
investigative, administrative, and judicial response to cases of elder abuse,
in a manner that—
(I)reduces the
additional trauma to the elder victim; and
(II)ensures
procedural fairness to the individual accused of elder abuse; and
(ii)experimental,
model, and demonstration programs for testing innovative approaches and
techniques that may improve the rate of successful prosecution or enhance the
effectiveness of judicial and administrative action in elder abuse cases, and
which ensure procedural fairness to the accused, including a determination of
which programs are most effective; and
(C)submit the
recommendations described in subparagraph (B) to the Office.
(4)Not
later than 1 year after a State receives grant funds under this section, the
State shall submit to the Director a report that includes—
(A)an evaluation of
the effectiveness of the grant program;
(B)a list of all
laws of the State relating to elder abuse; and
(C)any other
information the Director may require.
(5)If determined appropriate by the Director, a State
may designate a commission or task force established by a State before January
1, 2011, with membership and functions comparable to those described in
paragraphs (2) and (3), as a task force for the purposes of this
subsection.
(6)Task force
membership waiverThe Director may waive, in part, the task force
membership requirements under paragraph (2) for a State that demonstrates a
need for the waiver.
(d)Grant funds awarded under this section may be used to
support—
(1)State and local
prosecutor offices and courts in elder abuse matters, including—
(A)hiring or paying
salary and benefits for employees and establishing or implementing units
designated to work on elder justice issues in State prosecutors' offices and
State courts; and
(B)hiring or paying
salary and benefits for an employee to coordinate elder justice-related cases,
training, technical assistance, and policy development for State and local
prosecutors and courts;
(2)State and local
law enforcement agencies investigating cases of elder abuse; and
(3)adult protective
services.
(e)Not later than 1 year after the date on which the Director
makes available the final funds awarded under a grant under this section, the
Director shall—
(1)evaluate the
grant program established under this section; and
(2)submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report on the evaluation conducted under
paragraph (1), including recommendations on whether the grant program should be
continued.
6.Elder Justice
Coordinating CouncilSection
2021(b)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397k(b)(1)(B)) is amended
by striking (or the Attorney General's designee)
and inserting
(or the Director of the Office of Elder Justice)
.
7.Authorization of
appropriationsThere is
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act $20,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2012 through 2014.