Guardianship Abuse: Bad Apples or Tip of the Iceberg? | Justice Today

Описание: #JusticeTodayNIJ #guardianship
When cases involving high-profile individuals, like Britney Spears and the #freebritney movement, make national headlines, issues surrounding guardianship and conservatorship take center stage. But after those specific cases resolve and national interest fades, the systemic issues remain. We have very little data on how the guardianship system is actually working, and the scope and prevalence of guardianship abuse remains unclear. We don’t know how many individuals suffer abuse under guardianship. We don’t know to what extent guardianship, when properly executed, improves the lives of those it’s intended to serve. These questions only scratch the surface, and in this episode of Justice Today, we explore what we do and don’t know about guardianship abuse in the United States.

Read the transcript.
Original release date: January 15, 2025

Host: Amelia Vorpahl, NIJ Communications Specialist
Guests: Erica Wood, former assistant director of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging and continuing advocate
Dr. Pamela Teaster, Professor and Director of the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech

Reading and Resources
• Environmental Scan of Guardianship Abuse and Fraud: https://nij.ojp.gov/library/publicati...

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Chapters
0:34 – What is guardianship?
5:53 – It's a state-level issue, so why fund federal-level research?
10:54 – We're missing a lot of information about guardianship in the U.S
15:13 – How prevalent is guardianship abuse?
21:44 – Lack of data and the impact on systemic biases
24:42 – Examples of abuse cases
28:53 – Limits on number of cases per guardian
30:05 – How we can improve data collection and systemic reform at the federal level