NORWICH - A newly released state senior safety zone report that used a rescinded Montville ordinance as its template may provide a legislative blueprint to enact changes in Connecticut law, including modifications to the sex offender registry and a definition of the role of senior centers.
The study, released Jan. 1 and conducted by the General Assembly’s Commission on Aging, is the first of its kind in Connecticut and it looked at several areas, including the percentage of sexual offenders whose victims are elderly people.
According to its findings, of the 4,364 reported sexual assaults between 2009 and 2013, 57 – or 1.3 percent – were victims older than 60. But because the state’s population is aging, officials worry the pool of targets may grow.
“I felt all along we needed to have some legislation out there and I think this validates what the concerns were,” said state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, the task force’s co-chairwoman. “We’ll work on that collaboratively together out of that report.”
The task force found that by 2040, Connecticut’s population of people 65 or older is projected to grow by 57 percent. Already, state residents have the third highest life expectancy in the nation, at 80.8 years old.
