Analyzing actual crime victimizations of people with dementia in criminal court judgment databases in Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT People with dementia suffer not only from symptoms but also from social vulnerability including an increased risk of abuse and criminal victimization. In existing quantitative studies, the data are based on reports by people with dementia themselves, their family members, or concerned persons, which may be insufficient to accurately identify the actual mechanisms and circumstances of abuse or victimization. To speculate on the exact realities of people with dementia victimization, we extracted criminal sentences of perpetrators collected from the Japanese judgment database. A total of 152 cases in approximately 23 years included various victimization situations; these cases were classified into six categories of harm (physical, psychological, neglect, sexual, financial, and miscellaneous) and five categories of perpetrator (spouse, child, other family, supporter, and stranger or other). There were 93 cases of physical victimization by the spouse or child, which were statistically analyzed. Through case inspections, we provide an accurate victimization process of people with dementia and propose a four-class typology of physical victimization by the family: care exhaustion, antipathy to people with dementia, self-righteous or self-contained family, and continuous abuse type. These case scrutinies and their classifications may contribute to interventions regarding the support of people with dementia and their families.