Before researching this topic, I would have said that the United States treats the elderly with passion and love, but now I know I was wrong. In Japan the elderly were treated just as badly, if not worse. How could this be? Elderly people are so innocent, loving and have nothing but care for most people. How could one harm such a loving soul? It is very likely that these questions are running through many minds as I write this article. In the United States most abuse comes from nursing homes, but in Japan the abuse is more than likely coming from the children of the elderly. Even though officials in both governments are trying to pass new laws to protect the elderly, abuse continues. There are groups forming to help support seniors in the United States. The Japanese people are not doing everything they should because the abuse happens behind closed doors and most likely the family member is just denying it. Crimes committed against the elderly can be divided into two different categories. “First crime includes conventional crimes such as robbery, theft, fraud, rape and murder. The second type of crime is more about neglect and abuse” (James). These crimes happen more often among older people than among younger people because the elderly many times have some kind of illness that prevents them from doing many things and sometimes they are immobile. Therefore they cannot do anything about robberies or abuses. It would take a very cold hearted person to be able to inflict so much pain on an innocent person. Why can't the world just show love and happiness to the older generations? The difference between the United States and Japan is that the children of the elderly abuse them in Japan and in the United States nursing homes abuse our elderly. “In 1989, 40% of nursing home staff admitted to having committed at least one act of psychological abuse against a resident and 10% admitted to having physically abused a resident in the previous year” (Fischer) . These people who work in nursing homes are supposed to take care of our loved ones, but instead of taking care of our family members they hurt them. According to Christie Fischer, a student studying elder abuse at the University of South Dakota, USA... middle of paper... did he pick you up on the bus or even rob you? You most likely don't want to be treated this way, so the people of Japan and the United States must defend our elders because they are the ones who brought us to this lovely place and whenever we get older, we will. they don't want to be treated the way we are treating them now. Works Cited Ajima, Shinya. “Ongoing efforts to stem elder abuse.” INTERVENTION SPREADS OBSTACLES. 06 January 2005. 25 January 2005Fischer, Christie. "ELDER ABUSE IN NURSING HOMES". January 26, 2005.Green, Shane. “Hidden elder abuse is an emerging problem for Japan.” January 26, 2005. June 21, 2003.James, Marianne Pinkerton. "The elderly as victims of crime, abuse and neglect". February 1, 2005. “Collection: Japan Seeks Efforts to Curb Elder Abuse (Part One).” Xinhua News Agency. January 10, 2005. Infotrac Online Database. Volpe Library, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, Tennessee. February 2, 2005. “Collection: Japan Seeks Efforts to Curb Elder Abuse (Part Two).” Xinhua News Agency. January 10, 2005. Infotrac Online Database. Volpe Library, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, Tennessee. February 2 2005.