Coercion of the vulnerable - Assisted dying (FOI)

​​​Request

​A

Please provide data from the last five years on the number of cases where coercion of the vulnerable is suspected?

Please provide data on the number of safeguarding cases of police investigations where coercion has been suspected particularly for those who are vulnerable or elderly (> age 65 years), broken down by year or department?

B

Please advise what the levels of ‘Elder Abuse’ are in Jersey? Has there been any assessment or survey of this and the rates prevalent in the Island?

C

What safeguards are being proposed that would guarantee protection for vulnerable people from coercion, should there be legalisation of Assisted Dying (Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia)?

​Response

A and B 

The terms “coercion” or “Elder Abuse” are not crimes specifically recorded by the States of Jersey Police. An extensive review of data sets has been undertaken to try to assist the applicant, however, a significant number of records would need to be manually reviewed, and a subjective view taken as to whether a record would fall into either of these categories. This is beyond the requirements of the Freedom of Information Law as it restricts a response to only information held in writing at the time of the request (Article 3). Regrettably the States of Jersey Police cannot provide a response.  

The government has not conducted any assessment or survey of Elder Abuse in Jersey, however certain relevant information may be found in the Safeguarding Partnership Board’s Annual Reports which are available at:  

Annual Reports | Jersey Safeguarding Partnership Board​

C

This information is already available in Appendix 2 (List of safeguards and case studies) of the report and proposition P.18/2024 – Assisted Dying: 

States Assembly: Assembly Propositions p.18-2024.pdf.(gov.je)​   (see page 196). 

There is no requirement to further publish this information and Article 23 of the Freedom of Information Law has been applied. 

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.​