13 Sex Offenders Live In Bethel As Of October 2020

BETHEL, CT — Fall is a good time to take an inventory of who is living in your neighborhood. Bethel has 13 registered sex offenders living in the town, five more than were living here this time last year, according to the Connecticut Sex Offender Registry.

The Connecticut Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection maintains the registry and updates information regularly, but information can change quickly. Information is often provided by offenders themselves as required by law. This is a useful tool to help you be aware of who's living in your neighborhood.

Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries play a limited role in preventing child sexual abuse and stress that most perpetrators are known to the child.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the National Sex Offender Public Website, estimates that only about 10 percent of perpetrators of child sexual abuse are strangers to the child.

Related:

• Sex Offender Advocates Object To Local Mapping Of Registered Sex Criminals
• Why Patch Publishes Sex Offender Registry Maps

The Justice Department estimates 60 percent of perpetrators are known to the child but are not family members but rather family friends, babysitters, child care providers and others, and 30 percent of child victims are abused by family members. Nearly a quarter of the abusers are under the age of 18, the department estimates.