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Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act (EAPPA) Data

On October 18, 2017, the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act of 2017 (P.L. 115–70) was signed into law, identifying the need for data on elder abuse.  An elder abuse case has many stages from the incident through investigation (by adult protective services or law enforcement), prosecution, and trauma recovery. Several federal agencies currently collect elder abuse data (including physical abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation) on an ongoing basis at different points in the process. This page provides snapshots of elder abuse through the lens of four distinct federal data sets: 

The purpose and scope of each is described below.

Also see:

National Adult Mistreatment Report System (NAMRS)

NAMRS is a national, voluntary reporting system for state adult protective services (APS) programs that collects data on APS practices, policies, and the outcomes of investigations into the maltreatment of older adults and adults with disabilities, including physical abuse, self-neglect and financial exploitation. Although it has been estimated that only one in twenty-four cases of elder abuse is reported to a state authority, NAMRS provides a helpful picture of elder abuse cases that are reported to authorities.  More information on NAMRS can be found at https://namrs.acl.gov/.

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) 

Some reports involving elder abuse are made directly to law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies participating in the NIBRS submit their state-level reports to NIBRS, a system maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report program. NIBRS collects detailed data about crime incidents known to state and local law enforcement. It is a voluntary system of reporting, with 66.5% of law enforcement agencies submitting data to NIBRS. As not all cases of elder abuse are determined to be a violation of state criminal statute, NIBRS data do not capture all incidents of elder abuse. However, the data are nevertheless useful in reflecting those cases that are recorded by law enforcement. NIBRS data can be used to describe the nature of criminal incidents recorded by law enforcement and to describe criminal victimization in local communities.

Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Consumer Sentinel Network (Sentinel)

The FTC receives reports from consumers about problems they experience in the marketplace, as well as reports from local, state and federal law enforcement. Reporting to Sentinel is voluntary and data in the reports is unverified, and therefore should not be treated as a survey. The reports are stored in Sentinel, a secure online database available only to law enforcement for use in identifying and investigating fraud and other consumer problems. During calendar year 2022, Sentinel took in more than 5.4 million reports from consumers, of which over 2.5 million reports were about fraud. (See also FTC, Explore Data, available at ftc.gov/exploredata). Consumers who said they were 60 and older filed 385,590 fraud reports with reported losses of more than $1.6 billion. For more information, see Protecting Older Consumers – 2022 – 2023, a Report of the FTC.

Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE) in Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)

In 2011, the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published Advisory to Financial Institutions on Filing Suspicious Activity Reports Regarding Elder Financial Exploitation, encouraging financial institutions to submit Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) when they suspect elder financial exploitation (EFE).  Covered by the federal Bank Secrecy Act, SARs are filed with FinCEN but access to SARs is extremely restricted under federal law.  SAR filing is mandatory when there is an aggregate loss of at least $5000 ($2000 for money services businesses) in addition to meeting other criteria; otherwise reporting is voluntary. Since 2013, the SAR form has contained a checkbox indicating the offense involved EFE, although reporting of the exact age of the victim is not required. The 2011 report conveyed that financial institutions, may, but are not required to also place a report with a state entity such as adult protective services or law enforcement. Later, the Interagency Guidance on Privacy Laws and Reporting Financial Abuse of Older Adults (September 2013), clarified that reporting EFE to appropriate authorities does not, in general, violate the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Data from SARs provide another important window into the financial exploitation of older Americans. For results, see Suspicious Activity Reports on Elder Financial Exploitation: Issues and Trends (2019, CFPB), analyzing EFE SARs from 2013 – 2017.

Data Collection Recommendations for State and Local Law Enforcement

To understand the nature and characteristics of elder abuse, the Department’s data collection recommendations for state and local law enforcement include the recording of information about known incidents involving an older victim, specifically capturing multiple aspects of:

  • Offense or abuse type;
  • Victim characteristics;
  • Alleged perpetrator characteristics; and
  • Outcomes associated with the incident.

NIBRS captures these data from a law enforcement perspective and requires that participating agencies report data on a wide range of offense types, the demographic characteristics of victims and alleged offenders, and clearance and arrest outcomes of incidents, among other data elements in the system. Although NIBRS is not currently configured to capture all of the elder abuse best practices fields outlined above, participating agencies can adapt NIBRS to capture any missing elements.   

For agencies not presently participating in NIBRS, the FBI has NIBRS resources devoted to helping local police departments and sheriff’s offices make the conversion to NIBRS reporting, including manuals, support staff, and training. In addition, the Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), in partnership with the FBI, established the National Crime Statistics Exchange (NCS-X) Initiative to increase the number of agencies reporting to NIBRS. NCS-X has published NIBRS transition resources for local agency use and has provided funding and other technical assistance to selected agencies. More information about the FBI NIBRS can be found at https://ucr.fbi.gov/nibrs-overview or by contacting the FBI by phone at 304-625-9999 or by email at UCR-NIBRS@fbi.gov. More information about NCS-X and NIBRS resources can be found at https://www.bjs.gov/content/ncsx.cfm or at https://www.theiacp.org/projects/ncsx.

Updated November 2, 2023