Under the leadership of its highest court, Pennsylvania is breaking ground in a field of national importance: elder justice.
Chaired by Justice Debra Todd and formed under the tenure of former Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille, a group of 38 judges, prosecutors, attorneys, aging specialists and advocates from across the state convened in April 2013 in Harrisburg at the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts with Court Administrator Zygmont Pines and the skilled AOPC staff, and would spend the next year-and-a-half studying issues of access to justice faced by one of the largest populations in our commonwealth: older Pennsylvanians. The focus: the legal and health crisis of elder abuse—injuring well over 5 million Americans each year, costing older Americans and their families over $36 billion in losses to elder financial exploitation alone—and how we protect rights, minimize paternalism and ensure oversight when life-changing interventions such as guardianship are pursued. The Elder Law Task Force of Pennsylvania, perhaps the most ambitious in the nation, was launched.
