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演讲者：Jane Walsh
演讲题目：掠夺性骗局的兴起——以及如何防止它们
When we're seven, getting older and turning eight sounds great. Then once we're in our teens, the very idea of getting older and being 16 is amazing. But show me one single person who wakes up on their 50th birthday and says, "Wow, I can't wait till I'm 70."
当我们七岁的时候，变老和八岁听起来很棒。当我们十几岁的时候，变老和16岁的想法真是太神奇了。但让我看看一个人，他在50岁生日那天醒来说：“哇，我等不及70岁了。”
"Getting old is not for sissies." That's what my 90-year-old mother-in-law says when she's cross because something, physically or mentally, just isn't working the way it should, and did, years ago. But there are other surprises ahead of us. There is something else that goes along with aging, and it's not something we ever think about.
“变老不适合矫情。”这是我90岁的婆婆在生气时说的话，因为有些事情，无论是身体上还是精神上，都没有按照多年前应有的方式运作。但我们面前还有其他惊喜。随着年龄的增长，还有一些其他的东西，而这我们却不曾想过的。
One in 10 adults over 60 will be abused during their lifetime. That is five million people every year. Even worse, half of those who develop dementia will experience some kind of abuse. And more often than not, the abuser will be a family member. We never think that this is going to happen to us or to our loved ones. But it's happening, right now, to our parents, our grandparents and our neighbors.
每10名60岁以上的成年人中就有一人在其一生中会受到虐待。也就是说，每年有500万人。更糟糕的是，一半患有痴呆症的人会经历某种虐待。施虐者往往是家庭成员。我们从不认为这会发生在我们或我们所爱的人身上。但现在，我们的父母、祖父母和邻居都在经历这一切。
I first learned elder abuse was a thing when my dad fell victim to a classic elder scam. He was retired and he was living alone, and although he was hiding it really well, he was starting to struggle with tasks that had once been simple for him. The medical term would probably be "mild cognitive impairment."
当我父亲成为一个典型的老人骗局的受害者时，我第一次认识到虐待老人是一件正在发生的事。他退休了，独自一人生活，虽然他把事情藏得很好，但他开始努力完成那些曾经对他来说很简单的任务。医学术语可能是“轻度认知障碍”
Then, one day, I found a detective's business card sitting on his kitchen table. He'd been ripped off by a phony roofing contractor. He'd given this guy a lot of money up front, and the guy took his money and then took off. Despite my dad's police report, no one was ever charged or prosecuted. I was a criminal defense attorney at the time, but even still, I was shocked that it had happened. And as his daughter, I was horrified that I hadn't seen it coming.
然后，有一天，我发现一个侦探的名片放在他厨房的桌子上。他被一个假屋顶承包商敲诈了。他预先给了这家伙很多钱，那家伙拿走了他的钱，然后就跑路了。尽管我父亲有警察报告，但没有人被起诉或起诉。当时我是一名刑事辩护律师，但即便如此，我还是对这件事的发生感到震惊。作为他的女儿，我很震惊我居然没有觉察这件事。
Years later, I moved to Colorado, and I started working as a deputy district attorney, prosecuting crimes against older adults and folks with disabilities. I soon learned that there were a ton of these crimes out there, but not so many of them were getting reported. The statistics said maybe one in 14.
几年后，我搬到科罗拉多州，开始担任副地方检察官，起诉针对老年人和残疾人的犯罪行为。我很快就知道有很多这样的犯罪行为，但是没有那么多人被举报。统计数据显示，14%的人中可能有一个。
And when those crimes did get reported, as I'd already seen, very few of them got charged or prosecuted, and only the tiniest proportion resulted in a conviction.
正如我已经看到的那样，当这些罪行被举报时，很少有人被指控或起诉，只有极少数人被定罪。
So let's just think about domestic violence and child abuse, for a second. Think about all the resources of public-service campaigns poured into those issues -- and yet, still, those crimes remain way too high. Efforts to address elder abuse are said to be 20 years behind both of those issues. But we need to get better, and we need to get better fast, because this problem is exploding.
让我们先思考一下家庭暴力和虐待儿童的问题。想想公共服务运动投入到这些问题中的所有资源——然而，这些犯罪率仍然太高。据说，解决虐待老年人问题的努力落后于这两个问题20年。但我们需要变得更好，我们需要更快地变得更好，因为这个问题已经日益严重了。
Elder abuse is growing, but it still remains hidden because of shame, because of embarrassment, because of affection between perpetrator and victim. And most of all, because everyone has a deep, instinctive fear of admitting to impairment.
虐待老年人的现象正在增加，但由于羞耻感、尴尬感以及施暴者和受害者之间的感情，虐待老年人的现象仍然隐藏着。最重要的是，因为每个人都有一种深深的、本能的恐惧，害怕承认自己有缺陷。
So we see lots of different types of elder crime. We see physical abuse, we see emotional abuse. Sometimes, we'll see neglect or sexual abuse. But every single day, we see fraud and exploitation.
所以我们看到很多不同类型的老年犯罪。我们看到身体虐待，我们看到情感虐待。有时，我们会看到忽视或性虐待。但每一天，我们都会看到欺诈和剥削。
Financial crimes against seniors in the US cost an astonishing amount. The estimates put it up to 36.5 billion dollars every year. We know that seniors get bombarded by phone scams and internet scams even more than the rest of us. And this is lazy-boy crime.
在美国，针对老年人的金融犯罪花费惊人。据估计，这一数字每年高达365亿美元。我们知道，老年人比我们其他人更容易受到电话诈骗和网络诈骗的轰炸。这就是懒惰的男孩正在犯罪。
Why would anyone go out and rob a bank? They can sit at home, they call seniors and they terrify them that they're about to get arrested or that their grandsons are in jail. Then, they pressure them to buy multiple gift cards and Bitcoin. So many seniors have saved for decades, and those nest eggs, or sometimes, their whole life savings, just get wiped out in hours, or sometimes days.
为什么会有人出去抢劫银行？他们可以坐在家里，给老人打电话，恐吓他们，说他们要被捕了，或者说他们的孙子在监狱里了。然后，他们迫使他们购买多张礼品卡和比特币。这么多老年人已经储蓄了几十年，而这些储蓄，或者有时是他们一生的储蓄，在几个小时内，或者有时是几天内就付诸东流了。
It's low-risk crime, and it's very lucrative. But what's the reason that seniors are falling for these scams so often? And why do criminals target them? One possible answer lies in what happens to our brain as we age. By the time we're 60, neuroscience says that every single one of us is going to have some kind of cognitive change or deficit. Of course, our brains compensate, and no two individuals are the same.
这是一种低风险犯罪，而且非常有利可图。但是，老年人如此频繁地陷入这些骗局的原因是什么？为什么罪犯会以他们为目标？一个可能的答案在于，随着年龄的增长，我们的大脑会发生什么变化。到我们60岁的时候，神经科学说我们每个人都会有某种认知上的改变或缺陷。当然，我们的大脑会进行补偿，没有两个人是相同的。
But as our executive functioning for complex tasks starts to decline, we might find it more difficult to figure out if someone is trying to manipulate or exploit us. And at the same time, we'll very likely have less insight into the fact that these deficits exist. And this combination creates perfect victims.
但随着我们执行复杂任务的能力开始下降，我们可能会发现更难判断是否有人试图操纵或利用我们。同时，我们很可能对这些赤字的存在缺乏洞察。这种结合创造了完美的受害者。
It also goes to explain another type of crime that we see seniors falling for, again and again, and this is financial exploitation. In this type of crime, a third party homes in on the senior. They start to use persuasion and influence, and really almost grooming, to get them to give them money or assets. This can be a new person in the senior's life, and sometimes, it'll seem like someone who's really great. It'll be the new best friend or the fabulous new caregiver.
这也解释了另一种类型的犯罪，我们看到老年人一次又一次地陷入其中，这就是金融剥削。在这种类型的犯罪中，第三方专门瞄准老年人。他们开始对老年人灌输观念或进行潜移默化的影响，实际上这些几乎是谎言，让老年人自愿给他们钱或资产。这可能是一个新的人在老年人的生活中，有时，他们看起来像一个真正伟大的人。他们甚至以最好的新朋友或是令人难以置信的新护理者身份出现。
Maybe a romantic interest, or even a financial or legal professional. And what we see is that the bond that the perpetrator creates with the senior is so strong that even if they're cleaned out and penniless, they're often incurring credit card debt, and even taking out reverse mortgages so they can give more to the person scamming them.
也许是一个浪漫的爱好，甚至是一个金融或法律专业人士。我们看到的是，犯罪者与老年人之间建立的联系非常牢固，即使他们身无分文，也经常会产生信用卡债务，甚至会进行反向抵押贷款，以便他们能给诈骗他们的人更多。
But right now, on some level, we're still thinking that this is not something that's going to happen to us. We couldn't get scammed, not us, not our smart friends and family. Are we so sure about that?
但现在，在某种程度上，我们仍然认为这不会发生在我们身上。我们不能被骗，不是我们，不是我们聪明的朋友和家人。我们对此有把握吗？
Howard and Charlotte were 89 and 83 when they came forward. They'd both had careers as successful psychotherapists, and they had six college degrees between them. Years before, a receptionist from their eye doctor’s office had showed up unexpectedly at their home and asked if she could borrow 300 dollars. She came back again and again, and often, she brought her small child with her.
霍华德和夏洛特分别是89岁和83岁。他们都曾是成功的心理治疗师，他们一共有六个大学学位。几年前，他们眼科医生办公室的一位接待员突然出现在他们家，问她是否可以借300美元。她一次又一次地来探访，还经常带着她的小孩。
And every time she showed up, she had something new to tell them about why she needed money urgently: eviction costs, a lawsuit, medical bills or surgery. She rarely left without a check in hand. And after this had gone on for some time, she had got almost 600,000 dollars from this couple. And all the time, they told no one. It wasn't until their accountant asked them questions that they couldn't avoid, and then told them this was a crime, and that they had to call it in. Even then, they waited another couple of weeks, until, mortified, they finally took his advice.
每次她出现，她都会告诉他们她为什么急需钱：驱逐费、诉讼费、医药费或手术费。她很少不带支票就离开。经过一段时间，她从这对夫妇那里得到了将近60万美元。一直以来，他们都没有告诉任何人。直到他们的会计问了他们无法回避的问题，然后告诉他们这是一项犯罪，他们必须打电话报案。即便如此，他们还是再等了几个星期，直到他们羞愧地接受了他的建议。
This case is also a great example of how delays inherent in the criminal justice system make achieving justice for seniors a really difficult task. Howard was already dying of heart failure at the time that this case was charged. His cardiologist said that he only had a few months to live.
这起案件也是一个很好的例子，说明刑事司法系统固有的拖延如何使为老年人伸张正义成为一项真正困难的任务。在此案被起诉时，霍华德已经死于心力衰竭。他的心脏病专家说他只有几个月的生命。
So trial might be a year or more out. And Howard was an essential witness, but he wasn't going to be around. We litigated, to take his testimony ahead of time, by a deposition. That's something that's really fairly rare in criminal cases. Finally, Howard testified from his home. And he spent the entire next day in bed, exhausted. He passed away only six weeks later.
因此，审判可能需要一年或更长时间。霍华德是一个重要的证人，但他无法出现在现场。我们提起诉讼，提前录取他的证词。这在刑事案件中是非常罕见的。最后，霍华德在家里作证。第二天他在床上躺了一整天，精疲力竭。仅仅六周后他就去世了。
And we were so lucky. If Howard had cognitive issues, important details might already have been lost. And this is what happens in these cases. The clock's running against us, and that clock runs out, and cases get dismissed. The victims and their voices simply fade away.
我们很幸运。如果霍华德有认知问题，重要的细节可能已经丢失了。这就是在这些情况下发生的情况。时间对我们不利，时间用完了，案件被驳回。受害者和他们的声音都消失了。
Let's talk about another problem that we face, which is based on fundamental legal principle. It's the confrontation clause of the Constitution. This means that when someone is accused of a crime, they have the right to bring in their accuser, confront them face-to-face in court, and cross-examine them.
让我们谈谈我们面临的另一个问题，这是基于基本法律原则的。这是宪法中的对抗条款。这意味着，当某人被指控犯罪时，他们有权将原告带到法庭，与他们面对面，并对他们进行盘问。
The person who's accused of abuse can insist on bringing in the senior to have their lawyer question them. As you can imagine, this is very tough in cases with older victims. I think of one case I prosecuted, where the elderly woman sat in her wheelchair outside the courtroom for hours, waiting to testify.
被指控虐待的人可以坚持让资深律师来质询他们。正如你所能想象的，这在老年受害者的案件中是非常困难的。我想起了我起诉的一个案件，一位年长的妇女坐在轮椅上在法庭外等待作证长达数小时。
Other cases overran. Eventually, cold and tired and in pain, she just started crying. We really need to figure out better solutions. Sometimes, we can carve out small exceptions to the confrontation clause, based on public policy and the necessities of the case.
其他案件超过了预期。最后，她又冷又累又痛，开始哭了。我们真的需要找出更好的解决方案。有时，我们可以根据公共政策和案件的必要性，在对抗条款中划出一些小的例外。
Sometimes, remote testimony can be a substitute for in-person presence, particularly if we build in due process safeguards, like having a person from each side present, to make sure there isn't any prompting or interference. During the pandemic, judges have sometimes permitted remote testimony based on the public health crisis and the elevated risks that that presents to seniors.
有时，远程证词可以代替当面作证，特别是如果我们建立适当的程序保障，比如让双方的人在场，以确保没有任何提示或干扰。在流感大流行期间，法官有时允许基于公共卫生危机和老年人面临的高风险的远程证词。
There's one other thing that's really worth mentioning, which is that in other legal systems, where confrontation isn't quite so fundamental, they're really headed in an entirely different direction. Special measures to protect vulnerable victims are becoming more common, and what's driving these changes is the focus on really getting the best and most reliable testimony from the witness, which kind of makes sense. Also, in California, initiatives around specialty courts have been set up to address some of these specific barriers to elder justice that we're talking about.
还有一件事确实值得一提，那就是在其他法律体系中，对抗并不是那么根本，它们真的朝着完全不同的方向发展。保护弱势受害者的特别措施正变得越来越普遍，推动这些变化的是真正从证人那里获得最佳和最可靠的证词，这是有意义的。此外，在加利福尼亚州，围绕专业法庭的倡议已经建立起来，以解决我们正在讨论的老年人司法的一些具体障碍。
So we can make this system better. We can also take action ourselves to prevent those we love being affected by predatory behavior. It is time that we had the talk. No, it's not that talk. This is the talk that we need to have with our parents or other elder adults that we talk to. And it is every bit as awkward, because it goes against the grain of the relationship.
所以我们可以使这个系统更好。我们也可以自己采取行动，防止我们所爱的人受到掠夺行为的影响。我们该谈谈了。不，不是那个话题。这是我们需要与父母或其他老年人交谈的话题。这也有点尴尬，因为这违背了关系的本质。
Roles have changed forever, and the person who used to be our protector might now need some protection themselves. So before we even start this process, we can reach out to family friends, because they often have a great idea of what's going on. They may be able to tell us if they've seen signs and symptoms that concern them. Physicians or other professionals can help too.
角色位置已经发生了逆转，曾经是我们的保护者的人现在可能自己也需要一些保护。因此，在我们开始这个过程之前，我们可以联系家庭朋友，因为他们通常对正在发生的事情有很好的了解。他们可能会告诉我们，他们是否看到了与他们有关的迹象和症状。医生或其他专业人士也可以提供帮助。
Then let's talk about tone, because this is not an easy conversation, and it really needs a careful approach. What we can't do is go in there ready to judge, because who wants to be judged, who wants to be made to feel less than? In my cases, I try to get a photograph of the senior when they were a different age, in a different context. It helps me see more of that person. We didn't know our parents when they were our age. There is a lifetime of history between us, but there are still new ways to connect.
然后，我们还得注意一下语气态度，因为这不是一次轻松的对话，它确实需要一种谨慎的方法。我们不能做的是一开始就严厉批评，因为谁想被评判，谁想让自己感觉比别人差？在我的例子中，我试着在不同的背景下拍摄一张老年人的照片，当时他们处于不同的年龄。这有助于我更多地了解那个人。我们的父母在我们这个年龄时，我们不认识他们。我们之间隔着一个年代的距离，但仍然有新的联系方式。
And there are so many practical and unobtrusive fixes that we can put in place. Maybe it's doorbell cameras or text alerts from the bank that come to our phone, or maybe we're just going to help out with that huge mountain of paperwork that keeps regrowing.
还有很多实用的、不引人注目的修复方法，我们可以实施。也许是门铃摄像头或者银行的短信提醒传到了我们的手机上，或者我们只是想帮着处理堆积如山的繁文缛节。
There is a whole industry out there, and we need to find the solutions together. Also, this is a process, so we need to keep it under review. And if right now, we're feeling overwhelmed, then nobody said it would be easy, and neither is getting old. But we can't wait, because if we wait, we'll find out after something has happened. Like my family did, or like Howard and Charlotte's family did.
这是一个完整的行业，我们需要一起找到解决方案。此外，这是一个过程，因此我们需要不断审查。如果现在，我们感到不知所措，那么没有人说这很容易，也没有人变老。但我们不能等待，因为如果我们等待，我们会在事情发生后发现。就像我的家人，或者像霍华德和夏洛特的家人一样。
When I first meet with victims of elder crime, it can feel really heavy. They've taken a big blow to their dignity and their self-respect. They tell me that they feel tired and foolish, and sometimes, they even say that they feel like they're done. We try not to make this process any harder for them. As in, "Wow, you've really been through a lot ... But wait, there's more."
当我第一次见到老年犯罪的受害者时，我会感到非常沉重。他们的尊严和自尊受到了沉重的打击。他们告诉我，他们感到疲倦和愚蠢，有时，他们甚至说，他们觉得他们完了。我们尽量不让这一过程对他们造成任何困难。就像“哇，你真的经历了很多…但是等等，还有更多。”
And we get to share in their amazing resiliency and their humor, as we navigate our way through this messy system together. We can improve how the system responds to their mistreatment. We can ramp up prevention, we can raise awareness, and we can do a better job protecting our own friends and family.
当我们一起改进这个混乱的系统时，我们可以分享他们惊人的韧性和幽默。我们可以改进系统如何应对他们的被虐待问题。我们可以加强预防，我们可以提高警觉意识，我们可以更好地保护我们自己的朋友和家人。
And who knows what lies ahead for our future selves, either? But now that we absolutely know that elder abuse can happen to anyone, it's time that we change that, to make sure that it can't, and it doesn't.
谁也不知道我们未来的自我将面临什么？但现在我们都知道，虐待老年人的行为可能发生在任何人身上，是时候改变这种情况了，以确保它不会发生，也不会发生。
Remark：一切权益归TED所有，更多TED相关信息可至官网www.ted.com查询！
声明：除特别注明原创授权转载文章外，其他文章均为转载，版权归原作者或平台所有。如有侵权，请后台联系，告知删除，谢谢
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