… But a few strategic keystrokes will lead anyone with internet access to information about _____’s murder conviction, his current address and a recent photo. His is among more than 3,600 names on the Illinois State Police Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry, a tool established in 2012 by state lawmakers at the urging of families of victims. …
“I’ve had comments on that already, where people think you’re a sex offender,” _____ said. “I’m not a registered sex offender.” But because of the similarity between the two registries, “it’s like I’m being treated like one.” Full Article
Headline from the Chicago Tribune:
Little-known registry lists murderers in your town, but is it a good thing?
There’s an online registry in Illinois which lists murderers and there are these amazing things to consider in the story:
1. The IML doesn’t apply to those convicted of murder.
2. The murderer in this story (who served his time) complains that neighbors are confused and mistake him for a registered sex offender — he’d rather they realize he’s only a murderer.
3. A professor comes out against this registry (would he also argue against the sex offender registry): Arthur Lurigio, a professor of psychology and criminal justice at Loyola University in Chicago noted those on the [murderer’s] registry were already punished. “It’s a perpetual punishment,” Lurigio said. “It’s a continuation of the punishment along different lines, a social punishment in which you’re locked in a category.”
The professor also said: “Murderers have low recidivism rates. I’m not talking about serial killers, I’m talking about more run-of-the-mill,” one-time offenders, Lurigio said.
Sex offenders are more likely to offend again because sex crimes are highly compulsive, Lurigio said.
“We’re registering people because we believe they are at an enhanced, specific risk of reoffending, although that kind of (psychological) assessment is never done,” Lurigio said. “We don’t predict really well who’s going to reoffend (or know) what kinds of triggers” might cause them to do so, he said. Older people, for example, “are less likely to reoffend in any criminal category than younger people.”
“We put people in this one category, and we think they’re monolithic … and that is absolutely not true,” he said.
Here’s the link to the entire story:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/crime/ct-nvs-illinois-murderer-registry-st-0626-20160701-story.html
Any public list or requirements after probation have ended for any crime should be a violation of due process. If I have not specifically been determined to be a current threat to society in a fair hearing where both sides present evidence, then I should be treated like anyone else that has paid their debt to society.
I was on the receiving end of unwanted, although non-violent sexual advance. I was still able to experience some wonderful things in my life. I’ll take that over being killed, period. If putting people on a list prevents crime, which it doesn’t, I’ll put the latter crime on that list before the former.