An Act relative to penalties for crimes against seniors.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Subsection (a) of section 13K of chapter 265 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition “Person with disability” the following definition:-

“Senior housing”, housing created pursuant to sections 39 to 41, inclusive, of chapter 121B for elderly persons of low income.

SECTION 2. Said section 13K of said chapter 265, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “elder”, in lines 70, 75, 81, 87, 90, 96, 98, 104, 106, 113 and in lines 118 to 119, inclusive, the following words:- person residing in senior housing.

SECTION 3. Said section 13K of said chapter 265, as so appearing is hereby further amended by adding the following subsection:-

(g) Whenever any person has been convicted of subsections (a½) to (e), inclusive, when the victim of such crime is an elder or a person residing in senior housing, the person convicted shall register annually for 5 consecutive years with the office of probation, which shall maintain a central registry of all such persons. The registration shall include (i) the offender’s home address and any secondary addresses; (ii) the offender’s work address; (iii) the offender’s age, sex, race, height, weight, eye and hair color; (iv) a photograph of the offender; and (v) whether the offender is in compliance with the registration requirement of this subsection.  Whoever fails to register as required by this subsection shall be punished by imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than 2½ years, or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.