IL – Law may deter sex offenders

Article

By KATE THAYER 

Law-enforcement officials hope that a new law will help solve cold cases while deterring repeat sex offenders.

The law, which takes Monday, requires convicted sex offenders to provide DNA samples as part of their sex-offender registration process. Officials say people convicted of misdemeanor sex offenses are those affected by the change.

Although treatment professionals support efforts to find repeat offenders, some say the new law won’t necessarily deter sex offenders.

The new law joins others addressing sex offenders in 2007. Other initiatives include revamping the state’s sex-offender registry so the public can look up offenders by a specific address; a global positioning system for paroled sexual predators; and stricter requirements on where offenders may live in relation to child-care facilities.

Sex offenders now will have to renew their driver’s licenses every year, as opposed to every four years. Another law prohibits custody or visitation by a father who was convicted of a sexual crime that resulted in the child’s conception.

In the new DNA law, samples will be kept by the Illinois State Police for analysis and comparison. State law already requires those convicted of sex offenses to provide their address, employer and other information to police.

Although some sex offenses required a registration process in the 1980s, the list as it’s known now began in 1996 with the creation of the Illinois Sex Offender Registry. Some offenders are required to register for 10 years, while others spend the rest of their lives on the list.

Assistant State’s Attorney Justin Fitzsimmons, who prosecutes mostly sex offenses in Kane County, said the new law would enhance his ability to charge such offenders and aid police investigations.

“A DNA sample will last forever,” he said.

Fitzsimmons said the new measure closes a loophole that allowed some registered sex offenders – those convicted of misdemeanor offenses – to disappear from the system after 10 years. Many misdemeanor sex offenses don’t require the lifetime registration, but instead have the 10-year limit, he said.

Anyone convicted of a felony must submit DNA. However, the new law allows for those convicted of misdemeanor sex offenses – which never carry prison time – to join that group.

“If a sex assault occurs 20 or 30 years later… [a convicted sex offender’s information] may not show up,” Fitzsimmons said.

He also said more identifying information from sex offenders might offer deterrence.

“I think any additional requirement of people convicted of misdemeanor or felony sex crimes is going to have some effect,” he said. “It’s going to make them stop and think twice. That’s the hope.”

State Rep. Susana Mendoza, a Chicago Democrat who proposed the measure earlier this year, said Chicago police asked lawmakers to introduce the new law.

Sex-offender DNA on file could provide answers to unsolved crimes, or be used to solve future crimes committed by a convicted, repeat offender, Mendoza said.

“The average rapist rapes seven times before he’s caught,” she said, adding “So many sex crimes relate to DNA.”

State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, supported the measure.

She said DNA samples from unsolved rape cases are “sitting” in the state crime lab.

“This is another tool we can give to law enforcement,” she said. “Not only do we put the DNA on record, but we could solve unsolved cases.”

Chapa LaVia said other states have started this process.

“This is the wave of the future,” she said, adding that she believes that the new law will deter repeat sex offenders.

“If someone knows their DNA profile is on file for the rest of their life, they are less likely to commit crimes and get help fro the problem they have,” she said.

Psychologist Debra Nickerson heads the Illinois chapter of the Association for the Treatment of Sex Abusers. Although she is not a law-enforcement expert, she does not see how the new law will deter sex offenders.

“If there is such a thing as a deterrent, there are plenty of laws on the books already that would deter,” she said. “I’m not sure it’s helpful in that way.”

Illinois state Police Lt. Lincoln Hampton said DNA collection from inmates was a useful tool and should continue to be useful with the addition of sex-offender DNA collection.

“We’ll be able to track them … and track crimes,” he said.

There were about 100,000 samples analyzed in 2006 alone, Hampton said.

– Sex offender law history

After laws placing various restrictions on those convicted of child molestation offenses, the Illinois legislature passed the Sex Offender Registration Act in 1996.

That act said that anyone convicted of a felony sex offense must register on the state’s Sex Offender Registry, and placed living, employment and other restrictions on those registered.

This information was available to the public through their local law enforcement, and eventually accessible via the Internet.

Since then, many laws have added qualifying offenses, placed more restrictions on registering offenders or changed the laws in scores of other ways.

Starting in 1997, those convicted of misdemeanor sex offenses also started registering.

In 1999, the category of “sexual predator” was created.

Also in 1999, the registry was available online, along with a photo of the offender.

In 2002, juvenile delinquent sex offenders were required to register.

Beginning in 2004, it became a Class 3 felony for those violating the terms of the registry.

In 2006, juvenile sex offenders must start registering as an adult on their 17th birthday.

Source: Illinois State Police

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