With the number of older adult arrestees and prisoners
increasing rapidly, legal professionals increasingly provide
front-line identification and response to age-related health
conditions (including cognitive and physical impairments)
that may affect legal outcomes, such as the ability to participate
in one’s defense or stay safe in jail. The goals of
this study were to assess the ability of legal professionals
to recognize and respond to age-related conditions that
could affect legal outcomes and to identify recommendations
to address important knowledge gaps. This was a
mixed quantitative–qualitative study. Legal professionals
(N = 72) in the criminal justice system were surveyed to
describe their demographic characteristics, expertise, and
prior aging-related training and to inform the qualitative
interview guide. Those surveyed included attorneys (district
attorneys (25%), public defenders and legal advocates
(58%)), judges (6%), and court-affiliated social workers
(11%). In-depth qualitative interviews were then conducted
with a subset of 10 legal professionals who worked
with older adults at least weekly. Results from the surveys
and interviews revealed knowledge deficits in four important
areas: age-related health, identification of cognitive
impairment, assessment of safety risk, and optimization of
services upon release from jail. Four recommendations to
close these gaps emerged: educate legal professionals about
age-related health, train professionals to identify cognitive
and sensory impairment, develop checklists to identify
those at risk of poor health or safety, and improve
With the number of older adult arrestees and prisoners
increasing rapidly, legal professionals increasingly provide
front-line identification and response to age-related health
conditions (including cognitive and physical impairments)
that may affect legal outcomes, such as the ability to participate
in one’s defense or stay safe in jail. The goals of
this study were to assess the ability of legal professionals
to recognize and respond to age-related conditions that
could affect legal outcomes and to identify recommendations
to address important knowledge gaps. This was a
mixed quantitative–qualitative study. Legal professionals
(N = 72) in the criminal justice system were surveyed to
describe their demographic characteristics, expertise, and
prior aging-related training and to inform the qualitative
interview guide. Those surveyed included attorneys (district
attorneys (25%), public defenders and legal advocates
(58%)), judges (6%), and court-affiliated social workers
(11%). In-depth qualitative interviews were then conducted
with a subset of 10 legal professionals who worked
with older adults at least weekly. Results from the surveys
and interviews revealed knowledge deficits in four important
areas: age-related health, identification of cognitive
impairment, assessment of safety risk, and optimization of
services upon release from jail. Four recommendations to
close these gaps emerged: educate legal professionals about
age-related health, train professionals to identify cognitive
and sensory impairment, develop checklists to identify
those at risk of poor health or safety, and improve
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