National Triad Program Act - Requires the Director of the National Institute of Justice to conduct a national assessment of: (1) the nature and extent of crimes against the elderly; (2) the needs of law enforcement, health, and social service organziations, in working to prevent, identify, investigate, and provide assistance to victims of such crimes; and (3) promising strategies to respond effectively to those challenges.
Specifies that such assessment shall address: (1) the analysis and synthesis of data from a range of sources; (2) the problems of elderly who are living alone or in high crime areas and who are abused and neglected, and the fear of victimization; (3) the identification of strategies and techniques tht have been shown to be effective or which show promise; (4) the analysis of the factors that enhance or inhibit development of a coordinated response by law enforcement, health care, and social service providers; and (5) the research agenda needed to develop a comprehensive understanding of the problems of crimes against the elderly.
Requires the Director to disseminate the results of such assessment.
Authorizes the Director to make awards to coalitions of local law enforcement agencies, victim service providers, and organizations representing the elderly for pilot programs and field tests of promising strategies and models for forging partnerships for crime prevention and service provision. Specifies that pilot programs funded under this Act may include existing general service coalitions of law enforcement, victim service, and elder advocate organizations that wish to use additional funds to work at a particular problem in their community or to target a particular geographic area in need of intensive services.
Authorizes the Director to make awards to: (1) coalitions of national law enforcement, victim service, and elder advocate organizations for training and technical assistance in implementing pilot programs; (2) research organizations to investigate the types of elder victimization shown by the assessment to present particularly critical problems or to be emerging crimes about which little is known, to evaluate the effectiveness of selected pilot programs, and to conduct research and development identified as being critical; and (3) public service advertising coalitions to increase public awareness of, and promote ideas or programs to prevent, crimes against the elderly.
Authorizes appropriations.
HR 5216 IH 102d CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5216 To establish research, development, and dissemination programs to assist State and local agencies in preventing crime against the elderly, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 20, 1992 Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina (for himself, Mrs. PATTERSON, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. GINGRICH, Mr. LANCASTER, Mr. EDWARDS of Texas, Mr. HAYES of Louisiana, Mr. SAVAGE, Mr. SISISKY, Mr. HATCHER, Mr. SMITH of Oregon, Mr. KOPETSKI, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. DARDEN, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. LAGOMARSINO, Mr. RINALDO, Mr. RAVENEL, Mr. RIGGS, Mr. HAMMERSCHMIDT, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. DUNCAN, Mrs. BENTLEY, Mr. COBLE, Mr. SAXTON, and Mr. SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To establish research, development, and dissemination programs to assist State and local agencies in preventing crime against the elderly, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the `National Triad Program Act'. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. The Congress finds that-- (1) older Americans are among the most rapidly growing segments of our society; (2) currently, the elderly comprise 15 percent of our society, and predictions are that by the turn of the century they will constitute 18 percent of our Nation's population; (3) older Americans find themselves uniquely situated in our society, environmentally and physically; (4) many elderly Americans are experiencing increased social isolation due to fragmented and distant familial relations, scattered associations, limited access to transportation, and other insulating factors; (5) physical conditions such as hearing loss, poor eyesight, lessened agility, and chronic and debilitating illnesses often contribute to an older person's susceptibility to criminal victimization; (6) our elders are too frequently the victims of abuse and neglect, violent crime, property crime, consumer fraud, medical quackery, and confidence games; (7) studies have found that elderly victims of violent crime are more likely to be injured and require medical attention than are younger victims; (8) victimization data on crimes against the elderly are incomplete and out of date, and data sources are partial, scattered, and not easily obtained; (9) although a few studies have attempted to define and estimate the extent of elder abuse and neglect, both in their homes and in institutional settings, many experts believe that this crime is substantially underreported and undetected; (10) similarly, while some evidence suggests that the elderly may be targeted in a range of fraudulent schemes, neither the Uniform Crime Report nor the National Crime Survey collects data on individual- or household-level fraud; (11) law enforcement officers and social service providers come from different disciplines and frequently bring different perspectives to the problem of crimes against the elderly; (12) these differences, in turn, can contribute to inconsistent approaches to the problem and inhibit a genuinely effective response; (13) there are, however, a few efforts currently under way that seek to forge partnerships to coordinate criminal justice and social service approaches to victimization of the elderly; (14) the Triad program (composed of sheriffs, chiefs of police, and retired senior citizens), sponsored by the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), is one such effort; (15) recognizing that older Americans have the same fundamental desire as other members of our society to live freely, without fear or restriction due to the criminal element, the Federal Government seeks to expand efforts to reduce crime against this growing and uniquely vulnerable segment of our population; and (16) our goal is to support a coordinated effort among law enforcement and social service agencies to stem the tide of transgenerational violence against the elderly and to support media and nonmedia strategies aimed at increasing both public understanding of the problem and the elderly person's skills in preventing crime against themselves and their property. SEC. 3. PURPOSE. The purpose of this Act is to address the problem of crime against the elderly in a systematic and effective manner with a program of practical and focused research, development, and dissemination designed to assist States and units of local government in implementing specific programs of crime prevention, victim assistance, citizen involvement, and public education that offer a high probability of improving the coordinated effectiveness of law enforcement and social service efforts. The efforts of local coalitions, such as the Triad model being piloted in a number of areas by National Sheriffs' Association, International Association of the Chiefs of Police, and American Association of Retired Persons, are of particular interest. SEC. 4. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND DISSEMINATION. (a) IN GENERAL- The Director of the National Institute of Justice (referred to as the `Director') shall conduct a national assessment of-- (1) the nature and extent of crimes against the elderly; (2) the needs of law enforcement, health, and social service organizations in working to prevent, identify, investigate, and provide assistance to victims of those crimes; and (3) promising strategies to respond effectively to those challenges. (b) MATTERS TO BE ADDRESSED- The national assessment made pursuant to subsection (a) shall address-- (1) the analysis and synthesis of data from a range of sources in order to develop accurate information on the nature and extent of crimes against the elderly, including identifying and conducting such surveys and other data collection efforts as are needed and designing a strategy to keep such information current over time; (2) the problem of the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach elderly who are in poor health, are living alone or without family nearby, or are living in high crime areas; (3) the problem of elderly who are abused and neglected, sometimes in the home and sometimes in health care facilities, sometimes subjected to physical abuse and at other times to verbal aggression and neglect; (4) the problem of fear of victimization, which inhibits the freedom of the elderly and can make them prisoners in their homes; (5) the identification of strategies and techniques that have been shown to be effective, or appear to hold promise of being effective, in responding to the problems described in this subsection and in preventing, reducing, and ameliorating the impact of crime against the elderly; (6) the analysis of the factors that enhance or inhibit development of a coordinated response by law enforcement, health care, and social service providers to crimes against the elderly and the treatment of elderly victims; and (7) the research agenda needed to develop a comprehensive understanding of the problems of crimes against the elderly, including the changes anticipated in the crimes themselves and appropriate responses as our society increasingly ages, and the identification and evaluation of effective and fiscally feasible approaches to prevent and reduce victimization of our Nation's elderly citizens. (c) DISSEMINATION- Based on the results of the national assessment and analysis of successful or promising strategies in dealing with the problems described in subsection (b) and other problems, including coalition efforts such as the Triad programs referred to in section 2 and 3, the Director shall disseminate the results through reports, publications, clearinghouse services, public service announcements, and programs of evaluation, demonstration, training, and technical assistance. SEC. 5. PILOT PROGRAMS. (a) AWARDS- The Director may make awards to coalitions of local law enforcement agencies, victim service providers, and organizations representing the elderly for pilot programs and field tests of particularly promising strategies and models for forging partnerships for crime prevention and service provision based on the concepts of the Triad model, which can then be evaluated and serve as the basis for further demonstration and education programs. (b) ELIGIBILITY- Pilot programs funded under this section may include existing general service coalitions of law enforcement, victim service, and elder advocate organizations that wish to use additional funds to work at a particular problem in their community, such as fraud, burglary, or abuse and neglect, or to target a particular geographic area in need of intensive services. SEC. 6. EVALUATION AND DISSEMINATION AWARDS. In conjunction with the national assessment under section 4 and the pilot programs under section 5, the Director may make awards to-- (1) coalitions of national law enforcement, victim service, and elder advocate organizations, for the purposes of providing training and technical assistance in implementing pilot programs, including programs based on the concepts of the Triad; (2) research organizations, for the purposes of-- (A) investigating the types of elder victimization shown by the national assessment to present particularly critical problems or to be emerging crimes about which little is known; (B) evaluating the effectiveness of selected pilot programs; and (C) conducting the research and development identified through the national assessment as being critical; and (3) public service advertising coalitions, for the purposes of mounting a program of public service advertisements to increase public awareness and understanding of the issues surrounding crimes against the elderly and promoting ideas or programs to prevent them. SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. There is authorized to be appropriated $6,000,000 to carry out this Act, of which-- (1) up to $2,000,000 may be used to fund up to 20 pilot programs; (2) up to $1,000,000 may be used to fund a national training and technical assistance effort; (3) up to $1,000,000 may be used to develop public service announcements; and (4) up to $2,000,000 may be used for the national assessment, the evaluation of pilot programs, and the carrying out of the research agenda.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Judiciary.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line