OUTLOOK

SEX OFFENDER COMMITTEE REPORTThe Sex Offender Committee’s last meeting was held at Fall Conference. We discussed new sexoffender laws that are going into effect 1-1-13. The first law is PS-97-0698, which expands thedefinition of child sex offender to victim under 18 at the time of offense, adds offense as custodialsexual misconduct, sexual misconduct with a disability, sexual relations within families, promotingprostitution by advancing prostitution, promoting prostitution by profiting from prostitution bycompelling a person to be a prostitute, grooming, and traveling to meet a minor under the Child SexOffender definition. It also adds bike paths to definition of public park. The second law is PA0699, also known as the Eastern Bunny and Santa Clause law. This moves it from a probation/parole violation to a Class 4 felony. A child sex offender cannot participate in a holiday event involvingchildren under 18,like distributing candy at Halloween, and dressing up as Santa Claus orthe Easter Bunny. The first exemption is when a person is convicted of Criminal Sexual Abuse, victimbetween 13 and 17, and offender is no more than 5 years older than the victim. The secondis if the offender is a parent or guardian of a child under 18 and that child is present in the home, andno non familial minors are present. The third law is PA97-1098, and involves the restructuring ofSOMB. It moves those responsible for regulation and disciplinary action for treatment providers tobe under the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation instead of the Attorney General’sOffice. It restructures SOMB, by adding an ATSA and Polygrapher representative to the board andchanges the focus to more evaluation and management, and training to law enforcement, probationand parole.In addition, we discussed upcoming training offered through SOMB, and ideas for trainings forfuture conferences like Grooming, Women Sex Offenders, Sex Offender Assessments, and ideas onsituational awareness with sex offenders in the field. The committee members liked the sex offenderrelated articles that have been periodically sent out through email. Finally, the co chairs arerequesting copies of sex offender specific or felony orders from each county or circuit. This is tocreate a data base for our committee to share what each county is doing on combating newlegislative challenges through the years. If you could please send a copy of your county’s sexoffender specific or felony court order to joliphant@lakecountyil.gov it will be saved and sharedwith the committee in the future.Our next meeting will be held in January TBS in the Student Boone Center in Bloomington.12