Article on Legal Appearances of Dementia in Court Rulings
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Israel Issi Doron, Perla Werner, Benny Spanier & Ori Lazar recently published an Article entitled,The Legal Appearances of Dementia in Court Rulings: Mapping the Terrain, 29 Int’l Psychogeriatrics 755 (2017). Provided below is an abstract of the Article:
Background: Individuals with dementia may appear before the court in different roles: as victims, as witnesses, and as those standing up for their rights. While there is growing interest in the rights of older persons with dementia, relatively little empirical data exists regarding their actual interactions in courts. Therefore, the goal of this study was to empirically map this legal terrain.
Results: The majority of cases involved a single, very-elderly (i.e. over 80) woman, living in the community, with unspecified dementia. The majority of cases were heard and decided in lower level courts, addressing a broad range of primarily non-criminal legal issues. Finally, in the majority of non-criminal cases, the person with dementia was found to be legally capable, while in the majority of criminal cases, the person with dementia was found incapable.
Conclusions: The legal needs and rights of persons with dementia are much broader than issues of legal capacity or social protection. Deeper knowledge and more research is needed in order to fully understand the contexts in which dementia is constructed under the law.
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