Opinion (Rogério COPETO): A STRATEGY AND THE ELDERLY ABANDONMENT OF CRIME.
The Council of Ministers approved last Friday 5th, day 13 August, "The Protection Strategy to the Elderly", which aims to strengthen the recognition of the rights of the elderly.
Rogério COPETO
Lieutenant Colonel of the GNR, Master in Law and Security and Homeland Security Auditor
Head of the Education Division / Command Doctrine and Training
This strategy envisages a number of measures, including the criminalization of some behaviors violators of the rights of the elderly and the definition of a status of the elderly, which will be expressed clearly their rights, similar to what already exists for the victims of domestic violence.
As mentioned "The Protection Strategy to the Elderly" provides that certain behaviors that threaten the fundamental rights of the elderly may be considered as a crime, a future amendment to the Penal Code.
The last amendment to the Criminal Code was held on Sept. 5 August, with the approval of Lei n.º 83/2015 of 5 August, amending the Criminal Code by the 38th time and will come into force next day 5 of September, as referred to in our last article, Write by reason of criminalization of crimes of "persecution" and "forced marriage" and the crime empowerment of "female genital mutilation".
So, the likeness of such crimes, que a partir do dia 5 September will begin to be punished, also the crime, of "abandonment of the elderly", of "Refusal of care in public institutions", of "Refusal of access to the procurement of goods due to age" and the "legal Conducting business without consent", They could also start now to be punished.
For that to happen it would be enough that these crimes had been included in this latest amendment to the Criminal Code, avoiding the criminalization of these behaviors are at risk of ever being considered as a crime, because for that to happen the approval of the Parliament of the Law is necessary, which did not happen in this legislature.
There is no doubt that such conduct not morally objectionable and that no one ought to do, but we know that the reality is not that, and frequencies have elderly abandonment news in hospitals, by whom is at your own risk, verifying that the solutions to these cases are the institutionalization of the elderly, when he could return to his home.
It is therefore essential to the characterization of these behaviors as crime, because it aims to prevent and acts as deterrent to practice these behaviors, constituting as a wise move and it deserves our applause.
But, as already mentioned, the ducts that "the Elderly Protection Strategy" intended to be considered as a crime are still not. They could already be included in the Penal Code, but are not, knowing yourself why not take advantage this last amendment to the Penal Code.
Therefore these behaviors continue to be practiced, without resulting therefrom some punishment for the perpetrators.
To better understand what is at stake, below shows which any crimes that aspire to be included in the Penal Code:
– Crime de “Abandonment of elderly": Who commits the crime, a descendant or ascendant or has the old post at your own risk, leave the hospital or other establishment to provide health care;
– Crime de “Refusal host": Commits the crime who refuse to elderly or access their stay in public facility for elderly, when they refused to sign a power of attorney for administration or disposal of the assets or equity make provision in favor of the institution;
– Crime de “Denial of access to legal goods": Commits the crime who refuse to elderly or hinder access to the purchase of goods or the provision of services due to age
– Crime de “Legal business achievement without consent": Commits the crime who carry out legal transactions on behalf of elderly, without your knowledge.
In principle these are crimes that are likely to be included in our Criminal Law, a future amendment to the Penal Code, it is not known when it will happen.
In previous articles we've covered the phenomenon of crime committed against the elderly, and in that 2011 search 6,5% the elderly population was the victim of crime, representing the elderly population about 19% the resident population, so it appears that there is a low crime rate on this population in the year 2011, fact that has been observed in recent years, raising the question of who seniors do not report the crimes they suffer.
Even agreeing to the criminalization of conduct referred to above, We consider that the work should be targeted for prevention, especially in raising awareness and informing the elderly, to denounce all the crimes they suffer, knowing that the perpetrators are often family members or who are very close, or is mostly the elderly are victims of those who have the responsibility to take care of them and give the main difficulty comes from the old to formalize the complaint.
We also believe that any strategy to protect the elderly should involve all institutions working in this area, because these are leading institutions, who know the reality of the aging population and which can find on the net a solution to these problems.
The GNR as first-line institution, develops various activities supporting the elderly, It is example of this work "Operation Census Senior"Which is already on the national scene, recognized by all civil society, a national reference in the protection and combating isolation of the elderly.
So it is not surprising that "Operation Census Senior" was considered as good practice in the study prepared by the "Studies Center of Peoples and Portuguese speaking cultures", the Faculty of Humanities, the Portuguese Catholic University on "The Population Aging: Dependence, Activation and Quality"Where it is stated that" ... the Operation Census Senior ... presents itself as one of the great contribution of interventions on practical knowledge on the subject in Portugal, to cooperate in the characterization of this population nationally and signaling vulnerable situations who lack social support… In Portugal, it is considered as a good practice the work of the GNR, while project works as a platform to identify isolated older people in situations where risk and vulnerability and forwards them to support services appropriate to situation".
It is thus, the GNR takes a leading role in support of a stratum of extremely vulnerable Portuguese defilement, who are the elderly, must always take part in a possible strategy to support elderly, along with all other institutions that are partner, yet shall networking be the main goal of any "Protection Strategy to the Elderly".
