The family of a mentally disabled Georgia man has released a video of their loved one being beaten by staff at a care facility, including with fists and a belt.
Joey Cason, 55, was admitted years ago to a Gordan facility licensed to care for the disabled. Surveillance video recorded on Nov. 7, 2013, shows staff hitting Cason with belts, punching him on the ground, and letting other residents strike the vulnerable man.
Cason’s family has now released the video to draw attention to what the family’s lawyer said is a crisis of abuse at facilities across Georgia.
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) said that approximately one in 10 Americans over the age of 60 has experienced some form of elder abuse.
“Physically, he is not disabled. He is able to function physically, but he is severely mentally disabled,” Jarrard told the station.
It is alleged that the abuse occurred at that facility.
“These are some of our weakest, our most vulnerable citizens,“ Jarrard said. ”So, it’s important to know and watch and to see when they’re not being cared for appropriately.”
A caretaker at the facility was charged with battery and abuse/neglect of an elderly person in connection with the incident, according to the report.
Jarrard said the case against the former facility owner is still pending.
According to 11Alive, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities revoked the facility’s license following an investigation.
Elder Abuse Across the World
Elder abuse across the world is more common than in the United States, according to the World Health Organization, with around 15.7 percent of people aged 60 years and older subjected to some form of abuse in 2017. The WHO notes that the scope of the problem is probably understated, with estimates that only about one in 24 cases of elder abuse being reported globally.The World Health Organization defines elder abuse as “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.”
The WHO notes, “This type of violence constitutes a violation of human rights and includes physical, sexual, psychological, and emotional abuse; financial and material abuse; abandonment; neglect; and serious loss of dignity and respect.”
Crime in the United States
Violent crime in the United States has fallen sharply over the past 25 years, according to both the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).Both studies are based on data up to and including 2017, the most recent year for which complete figures are available.
While the overall rate of violent crime has seen a steady downward drop since its peak in the 1990s, there have been several upticks that bucked the trend.
Property Crime
The property crime rate fell by 50 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the FBI, and by 69 percent according to BJS.According to the FBI’s preliminary figures for the first half of 2018, property crime rates in the United States dropped by 7.2 percent compared to the same six-month period in 2017.
Public Perception About Crime
Despite falling long-term trends in both violent crime and property crime, opinion surveys repeatedly show Americans believe that crime is up.Perceptions differed on a national versus local level.