Earlier on this week I covered the sickening incident where a swan and a pet cat at a local nature reserve were shot at and died from air gun pellet wounds. Later on in the week, the Home Secretary John Reid announced plans to tackle the increasing numbers of paedophiles who are being processed by the justice system. As a society, not only are we brutal towards our pets and children, but we also treat the elderly with equal brutality. Figures released today show that nearly 562000 people over 65 were abused by partners, family, neighbours and care workers. Of this figure, about 85% fell victim to close people they knew. Clearly there exists in society at large an element that has no respect or sense of responsibility towards some of the most vulnerable members of the population. The only uplifting element to emerge is that the government intend to view crimes against the elderly in future as they would crimes against children and impose more severe sentences. The sad thing is the fact they were not doing this already.
One strange thing to emerge from this new research is that the information was gathered by the Department of Health but part funded by Comic Relief. Whilst it is not unknown for outside agencies to work with government departments on social projects (the Joseph Rowntree Foundation being a credible example) the fact that this project received outside funding is worrying. Some issues, such as the abuse of the elderly, are so important that they should be handled by government departments as a standard remit, and not only instigated when a suitable partner comes along.
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