* From Molly Parker at the Southern Illinoisan a while back…

Illinois’ sex offender registry, which now includes more than 32,000 people — most of them men, though some women, as well — has rapidly expanded since its first iteration in 1986.

Then, it included four qualifying crimes. Today, there are more than 30 crimes that trigger mandatory registration, including some repeat misdemeanor offenses.

In recent years, policy makers and advocates, both for offenders as well as victims, have been raising questions as to whether the registry, and the ever-increasing rules around it, really makes the public safer, or causes more societal harm than it does good.

In 2018, a bipartisan task force recommended Illinois take a far more nuanced approach to its registry, providing for risk assessments that allow law enforcement to focus limited resources on monitoring and more robust treatment options for people who are at high risk of re-offending.

The task force also recommended that those who pose less risk automatically fall off the registry after a set period of time. In fact, one of the key findings of the group is that the registry has not lived up to its mission.

* Chicago 400…

• Illinois law requires people on a public conviction registry who are homeless to report weekly in person to police—compared to annual or quarterly registration for people with housing. […]

• CPD detectives conduct 23,000 re-registrations per year of 450 homeless people alone, collecting and uploading the same forms each week. It is rote paperwork

Whether you agree with registration or not, the City of Chicago’s police department is making a real mess of things.

* WBEZ…

Victims and their families also say poorly functioning registries are not in their interests. Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, a victim advocate and director of Marsy’s Law for Illinois, said victims can be retraumatized if the system fails to work as promised “This is a matter of public safety and law. And it is not something that should be a, ‘Oh, only if we feel like it today.’ ” […]

Data from public records show CPD routinely registered more than 1,000 people per month in 2018. By the end of 2022, that number had been cut nearly in half.

The team that registers people is “a unit that for some reason the Chicago Police Department, especially the bureau detectives, who oversee this unit, do not care if it succeeds. And right now it is failing,” said Patty Casey, a former Chicago Police Commander who oversaw the registries until she retired in June 2021.

Casey called the situation inhumane — and said people who are trying to comply with the law should be able to do that.

If they can’t register, they risk arrest for no reason.

CPD refused to answer any and all questions when pressed by WBEZ.

* Mayor Lori Lightfoot was asked about the WBEZ story yesterday. She didn’t have much of a response…

Well, I’m not, I’m not, I was not aware of that. But obviously we need to make sure that we’re abiding by the law. And particularly when it comes to these folks that have to register on a on a regular basis, something I will take up with the superintendent and deal with thatto make sure that they’re able to comply with the law, and that we’re doing what we need to do to make sure that they have the ability to register accordingly.