As Illinois lawmakers debate a bill to increase registration requirements for sex offenders under a federal mandate, reform advocates say it would cost the state too much. They say many other states have declined to enact the federal law for the same reason. Currently, most sex offenders in Illinois are required to register for 10 […]
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Sex offender board can’t manage sex offenders
An audit of the Illinois Sex Offender Management Board shows failures in tracking sex offenders, even as the state legislature considers ramping up monitoring requirements. The audit, released May 26 by Illinois Auditor General William Holland, says SOMB failed to develop a system for monitoring sex offenders seven years after those requirements took effect. Created […]
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Advocates: ‘Don’t prosecute teens for consensual sex’
If Romeo were alive today, he would be a sex offender. That’s the situation with Illinois sex offender laws, say reformers calling for changes to laws they say unfairly stigmatize low-risk teenage offenders. Illinois law criminalizes so-called “Romeo and Juliet” relationships, in which two consenting teens have sexual contact but one is under the age […]
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Former Springfield firefighter sexually abused granddaughter
Her voice faltered and her arm shook slightly as she identified in court the man who touched her inappropriately and betrayed her trust. The 19-year-old college student wiped away tears as she described how, at age 12, her grandfather had fondled her breast after she confided in him an intimate and embarrassing secret. It was […]
