Parole for life urged in sex crimes: Madigan pushes more monitoring

By Christi Parsons
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 14, 2005

SPRINGFIELD -- The state's most dangerous convicted sex offenders would be eligible for a lifetime of parole after they are released from prison under a measure Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan is asking Illinois lawmakers to pass this spring.

Currently, most sex offenders spend two or three years on parole, regardless of how much threat they pose to their communities.

But under the proposal, an offender's parole supervision would be longer--possibly by decades--if his parole officers and other experts determined that he was likely to commit a new sex crime.

In making the measure her top legislative priority, Madigan said she hopes to remedy the current problem of sex criminals going mostly unmonitored shortly after their prison terms are over.

"It's terrifying that, right now, we let these people go, and two or three years down the road they're on their own," Madigan said. "If they're going to be living in our communities, I want somebody watching over them. I don't want to worry that this person's going to move in next door to me or that kids can end up trick-or-treating at their house. Someone should watch over these individuals."

State prison officials estimate that of the approximately 18,000 convicted sex offenders living in Illinois communities, 5,300 are on parole or probation. That means that thousands more are not under formal supervision of any kind.

Yet people convicted of sex crimes are considered among the most likely to search out new victims. Experts believe statistics present an incomplete picture of how many convicted sex offenders commit new sex crimes because only a fraction of sexual assaults are reported by the victims. Still, one study placed the rate of repeat offense within 25 years of conviction at 52 percent for child molesters and 39 percent for rapists.

A dozen states have some version of a lifetime supervision law. Under the Madigan version, the most dangerous sex offenders would be monitored for much longer than currently allowed by state statute. Those covered would be anyone convicted of rape or sexual assault with an aggravating factor, such as using a weapon or causing a permanent disability.

To end his period of supervision, such a sex offender would have to convince his parole agent and his treatment provider that he no longer posed a threat to his community.

With their recommendation, he could petition for release from the Prisoner Review Board, the state's parole board.

The bill also aims to improve monitoring during parole. Parole agents would be required to file reports twice a year, assessing how well the offender was abiding by the terms of his parole.

Those reports would be sent to the review board, which would forward copies to local sheriffs and chiefs of police.

One of the bill's sponsors, himself a former police chief, believes that provision by itself would make the community safer.

"That parolee would know that this information was being shared with the police," said Rep. John Millner (R-Carol Stream), who used to be Elmhurst' police chief. "That's additional incentive to see that they're behaving within their community."

The bill doesn't propose an increase in state parole officers, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been beefing up their ranks since he took office in 2003. The number of agents has grown from 370 to 470 during that period.

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