Illinois changes offender registry laws....

[CathrynRose]

..... and my girlfriend did it.

Apparently if you had committed a crime before 1999, you didn't have to be on the registry, but my g/f brought it to enough people's attention to get the law passed, this month.

http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/mindys.law.sex.2.1697650.html (click video on right)



This was the original piece ran back in November:

http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/mindys.mission.2.2.1290173.html (click video on right)

Very proud of her!

And what an excellent thing to get completed. There was no reason for these people to not be registered, IMO.

 

[tlramr14]

As an Illinois resident, mother, and teacher- I thank her!

 

[Inigo]

Yeah to Cathryn Rose's friend!

I just wrote a report to send a juvenile sex offender to juvenile prison. Hopefully he'll have to register when he gets out.

 

[Dismagic1]

..... and my girlfriend did it.

Apparently if you had committed a crime before 1999, you didn't have to be on the registry, but my g/f brought it to enough people's attention to get the law passed, this month.

http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/mindys.law.sex.2.1697650.html (click video on right)



This was the original piece ran back in November:

http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/mindys.mission.2.2.1290173.html (click video on right)

Very proud of her!

And what an excellent thing to get completed. There was no reason for these people to not be registered, IMO.

Your girlfriend deserves a medal and a parade.

 

[dislaney]

Good job!

 

[Sosai X]

I just hope some sort of consideration will be made for the civil rights of the persons required to register because of the change in the law. Being put on the sex offender registry is a social death sentence, and can open persons on the list to retaliation and hate crimes.

 

[61292cna]

a giant thank you for her!!!

 

[nd5056]

Please pass my thanks to her too.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Your friend did a great thing! I know you are proud of her. She has helped so many people protect their children. I'm am sorry for what happened to her.

She put a silver lining on a very dark cloud. Job well done!

 

[Carl]

I just hope some sort of consideration will be made for the civil rights of the persons required to register because of the change in the law. Being put on the sex offender registry is a social death sentence, and can open persons on the list to retaliation and hate crimes.

Not to mention that this whole thing is unconstitutional (no matter what the Supreme Court says.)

 

[nd5056]

I just hope some sort of consideration will be made for the civil rights of the persons required to register because of the change in the law. Being put on the sex offender registry is a social death sentence, and can open persons on the list to retaliation and hate crimes.

The only person I feel sorry for is the victim, NOT the attacker.

As far as I’m concerned, he should be still in jail. There is nothing coincidental about what he has done, not a single “maybe he was innocent”.

 

[lillygator]

I just hope some sort of consideration will be made for the civil rights of the persons required to register because of the change in the law. Being put on the sex offender registry is a social death sentence, and can open persons on the list to retaliation and hate crimes.

well they should not have committed the crime.



Great job!

 

[daughtersrus]

Not to mention that this whole thing is unconstitutional (no matter what the Supreme Court says.)

The sex-offender list in general or the new law?

 

[ZephyrHawk]

The only person I feel sorry for is the victim, NOT the attacker.

That depends on what constitutes a sex offense. Would I feel bad for kids who in 1999 were 18 years old (meaning that they're 29 now) who were caught having sex with their then 15 year old (now 26) partners? Yes. What about those kids who were in college in 1999 (as I was) and did something stupid and drunk like streaking? Yes. I know of one guy who was put on trial as a sex offender for peeing in the woods. Luckily, he got off.

There is nothing coincidental about what he has done, not a single “maybe he was innocent”.

Except if he was. Or she was. Let's attempt to be equal opportunity here. Do you think in the history of "sex offense" there has never been a young person who lied about their age? Do you think there was never a time when in a haze of drunkeness two people hooked up without first asking each other what their ages were?

Or do you think that every person on that list did something horrible and demeaning to a truly young (i.e., pre-pubescent) and innocent child?

 

[nd5056]

That depends on what constitutes a sex offense. Would I feel bad for kids who in 1999 were 18 years old (meaning that they're 29 now) who were caught having sex with their then 15 year old (now 26) partners? Yes. What about those kids who were in college in 1999 (as I was) and did something stupid and drunk like streaking? Yes. I know of one guy who was put on trial as a sex offender for peeing in the woods. Luckily, he got off.



Except if he was. Or she was. Let's attempt to be equal opportunity here. Do you think in the history of "sex offense" there has never been a young person who lied about their age? Do you think there was never a time when in a haze of drunkeness two people hooked up without first asking each other what their ages were?

Or do you think that every person on that list did something horrible and demeaning to a truly young (i.e., pre-pubescent) and innocent child?

Reading this from here:

http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/mindys.mission.2.2.1290173.html

When Mindy was just 7 years old, she was abducted and sexually assaulted.
...
"I just started praying out loud and he kept telling me to shut up," said Mindy, who doesn't want to use her full name.
...
Mindy is on a mission to help protect children from what happened to her near her home when she was 7 years old.

"I just felt him grab me, pick me up and he threw me in his car," said Mindy

On October 19, 1980, a complete stranger, James Kurtzer, abducted her off the streets of suburban Niles.

"I was really scared at that point, like really, really scared," Mindy said.

According to police reports, Kurtzer took Mindy in his car to an industrial park in Niles and bound her with electrical tape.

...

So, after these facts you’re trying to argue here:

“That depends on what constitutes a sex offense”

Makes me wonder… who are you???

Usually if he/she tries to hide behind the “constitutional law” is guilty as …

“Mindy” wouldn’t pursue this crusade only because she didn’t get a candy from this guy on Halloween night when she was 7 years old.

Please, show a little respect for the “REAL” victim in this story that can’t forget about it, even if it is 30 years later.

And I’m done arguing on this topic as well. You want to discuss the guy peeing in the woods, please start a new topic and we’ll discuss it there, but the comments you made don’t belong in this thread.
.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Yes, it's a horrible story. However, I think my post should be read as saying "So is every sex offense like the one posted? Should every minor offender be painted with same same brush as that horrible individual?"

A law doesn't effect just one person. It effects everyone. As for my commments not belonging in this thread, I would disagree since others were discussing potential civil rights issues involved in the altering of a law and not the story you posted. Regardless I see no point to starting a war, and I too, will bow out.

 

[lillygator]

honest to goodness everytime this comes up so many people act like RSO's are all the Romeo and Juliet cases and god forbid they be branded, go in and read the details people, the majority are not....

 

[piglet too]

Congratulations to your friend on helping to get this passed. I never even knew that cases before 1999 were not included.

As for the debate over if all should be on the list, I agree that laws need to be fixed so the few who truly don't deserve the lable are not stuck with it.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Congratulations to your friend on helping to get this passed. I never even knew that cases before 1999 were not included.

As for the debate over if all should be on the list, I agree that laws need to be fixed so the few who truly don't deserve the lable are not stuck with it.

ITA!

Who, honestly, can not see the difference between an 18 yr old getting busted for having sex with his/her 15 yr old gf/bf and a disgusting, cretin of - just to even the field - 18 yrs old or older abducting, raping, and duct-taping a 7 yr old (or any age, for that matter)? Is there really no difference between the two scenarios in your (figurative "you") mind? Should the gf/bf offender really be labeled a sexual predator for their entire lives? IMHO, yes, the cretins in the world deserve to have their entire lives "ruined" as they ruined/altered the lives of their victims but hormonal/foolish teenagers shouldn't be lumped into the same category.


OP - yes, congrats to your friend for extending the registration so that the true cretins pre-1999 can be "outed". Even if they haven't re-offended between then and now, there's no saying that they haven't and just weren't caught or even that they wouldn't re-offend even years from now.

 

[CathrynRose]

Of course people can see the difference between someone peeing in an alley, and now being a registered sex offender - which is what one of my ex-husbands very close friends, now is, after a drunken evening in New Orleans - versus the rape of a child.

However - this is a law that was already in effect - including the pee'ers and the pedophiles, regardless. This is just making it go back past 1999, which personally, I don't see as a bad thing.

Most genuine pedophiles / sex offenders DO re-offend. And *those* people shouldn't be living near school, working at carnivals or day cares, etc etc.

JMHO.