Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) is proposed legislation that would toughen penalties for crimes involving the elderly or disabled.
Two widely reported and particularly vicious crimes against elderly people in our region shine a spotlight on how vulnerable some members of this population can be to acts of violence.
Late last month, a 92-year-old Ewing woman was tied up, beaten and robbed during a pre-dawn home invasion. The incident left her with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.
And just this week, a 72-year-old woman was pulled from her car at the Lawrence Shopping Center after putting away groceries. The car sped away, destination unknown; the woman suffered minor injuries, police said.
Ours is an aging population. The National Crime Prevention Council estimates that there are 37 million Americans age 65 or older. Some 5 million of them have made it past their 85th birthdays.
Not all the elderly are frail and defenseless, by any means. But in the minds of those who are up to no good, older people present an easy target, which is why one state senator plans to introduce a measure that would impose harsher punishments for crimes against the elderly or disabled.
"The predators in those cases choose their victims because of their age," says Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer). "Criminals that prey on people who are vulnerable should be punished more severely."
Making the case for tougher penalties
Under Turner's proposed bill, anyone who causes bodily injury in such instances would be guilty of a crime of the third degree, and would face a mandatory three years in prison.
No such penalty enhancement exists now in cases involving older persons or the disabled, the lawmaker noted.
Recent statistics released by the U.S. Justice Department give insight into why Turner's measure makes sense.
In the last decade or so, rates of nonfatal crimes against the elderly increased a whopping 27 percent, according to the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. These crimes included rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault.
The bureau noted that about 59 percent of these offenses took place in or near the victims' homes, while 35 percent occurred in commercial places, in parking lots or open public areas, or on public transportation.
Although the rates of crimes against elderly persons were consistently lower than for their younger cohorts, and the homicide rate of the elderly was lower than the rates of all other age groups, the proposed bill sends an important message to would-be criminals: You will be dealt with severely if you go after helpless victims.
Knowing the steep price they will pay may keep these scum from acting on their basest instincts. Turner's bill deserves a thumbs up from her fellow legislators.