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The National Research Council defines elder abuse and mistreatment as:
- intentional actions that cause harm or create a serious risk of harm to a vulnerable elder by a caregiver or other person who stands in a trust relationship to the elder, or
- failure by a caregiver to satisfy the elder's basic needs or to protect the elder from harm."
NIJ has funded two studies that identify characteristics of those caregivers who perpetrate elder mistreatment.
In a court-based study of abused women in Rhode Island over the age of 50, researchers reviewed court records — cases in which the individual has been prosecuted for a crime — and found that: 
- Nearly half of the suspects had a prior criminal history on record in the state.
- Over a quarter had a prior court case for domestic violence.
- Two in ten had a prior record for a drug- or alcohol-related event.
- Fourteen percent had a prior case for a crime against person (non-domestic).
- Sixteen percent had been sentenced to prison for a prior charge.
In a telephone survey of nearly 6,000 elderly individuals, victims of elder physical mistreatment reported that: 
- A majority (57 percent) of the people who committed acts of physical abuse were partners or spouses.
- Half of the people who committed the acts were using drugs or alcohol at the time of the mistreatment.
- Three in ten of them had a history of mental illness.
- Over a third of them were unemployed.
- Four in ten were socially isolated.
About This Article
The research described in this article was funded by NIJ awards 2007-WG-BX-0009 and 2006-WG-BX-0009, awarded to the Medical University of South Carolina and Advocates for Human Potential.
This article is based on the grantee reports A Statewide Profile of Abuse of Older Women and the Criminal Justice Response (pdf, 94 pages) by Klein, A., T. Tobin, A. Salomon, and J. Dubois; and National Elder Mistreatment Study (pdf, 183 pages) by Acierno R., M. Hernandez-Tejada, W. Muzzy, K. Steve
[note 1] Klein, A., T. Tobin, A. Salomon, and J. Dubois. A Statewide Profile of Abuse of Older Women and the Criminal Justice Response (pdf, 94 pages), Final Grant Report to the National Institute of Justice, March 2008, NCJ 222459.
[note 2] Acierno R., M. Hernandez-Tejada, W. Muzzy, K. Steve. National Elder Mistreatment Study (pdf, 183 pages), NCJ 226456, March 2008, Grant Report.