Abstract
This article is a literature review from 1985 to 2005, whose objective is to build the scene of family violence against the elderly, as it occurs, its causes, consequences and, most of all, the ways to tackle the problem. The study concluded that violence against the elderly is alarming and mainly occurs within the family circle. This violence has multiple faces and is dynamic and complex phenomenon, hard to control, even in countries with high level of quality of life. One concluded that there is a great gap in society concerning the implementation of measures to guarantee the security of the elderly, once current policies that protect this population still are belows the practices of public and private services which assist the elderly.
aged; domestic violence; family; security measures