Sex Crimes

Chicago Tribune: "Are sex offender laws working?"

The Chicago Tribune has an interesting article discussing how Illinois' sex offender residency restrictions may be doing more harm than good. From the article:

Thousands of sex offenders have remained in prison for parole and then been returned to the streets without oversight or treatment. These offenders are less likely to register their addresses than those serving tightly monitored paroles in the community. They also are more likely to reoffend, sometimes repeating the same sex crimes, the review found.

Of the 1,292 sex offenders discharged in fiscal 2008 after serving parole behind bars, 28 percent were listed as missing, not having registered their address or not being up-to-date with their registrations, compared with 23 percent of the 1,868 sex offenders paroled into the community.

Another 21 percent of the discharged offenders returned to prison, a slightly higher rate than those who were paroled. But in most cases, offenders monitored in the community were sent back to prison for technical parole violations, in many cases housing-related problems, while the discharged offenders were convicted of new crimes.

Sex offender housing restrictions have long been criticized by civil liberties advocates, who argue that it's unjust to banish any segment of society, and by criminal justice experts, who say it's more productive and cost-effective for most offenders to undergo parole supervision and treatment in the community.

Now some victims' advocates and members of law enforcement are echoing the calls for reform.

Student Post - Confrontation Clause vs Illinois 115-10 Code in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

In many child sexual abuse cases, the child victim is either unable or unwilling to testify at a trial. This causes many problems for Prosecutors as the primary evidence against the alleged perpetrator is the child victim’s testimony. The child victim has usually told the story to other adults such as police officers, parents, hospital employees and child advocacy interviewer, but all of these statements are considered hearsay statements. In order to attempt to admit into evidence some of these hearsay statements, Prosecutors in Illinois may motion for a 115-10 hearing. 

The Illinois statute (725 ILCS 5/115-10) states: 

(a) In a prosecution for a physical or sexual act perpetrated upon or against a child under the age of 13, or a person who was a moderately, severely, or profoundly mentally retarded person… the following evidence shall be admitted as an exception to the hearsay rule: 

(1) testimony by the victim of an out of court statement made by the victim that he or she complained of such act to another; and

(2) testimony of an out of court statement made by the victim describing any complaint of such act or matter or detail pertaining to any act which is an element of an offense which is the subject of a prosecution for a sexual or physical act against that victim.

However, in light of the Supreme Court rulings of Crawford v. Washington and Davis v. Washington where testimonial hearsay is not admissible due to the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment, there are questions regarding the constitutionality of the Illinois code and leaves judges questioning what statements may be testimonial in nature. Judge Daniel B. Shanes addresses these issues and discusses the history of the confrontation clause both in America and in Illinois through his article Confronting Testimonial Hearsay: Understanding the New Confrontation Clause, 40 Loy. U. Chi. L. J. 879 (2009) (pdf here).

Judge Shanes provides a good analysis of the confrontation clause for attorneys and judges. The article breaks down the most recent court decisions and how to better understand whether a statement is considered testimonial in nature and admitted hearsay testimony. Judge Shanes’ article focuses on some Illinois cases, primarily child sexual abuse cases and how the Illinois Courts are analyzing testimonial hearsay.

In the case of In re Rolandis G., 352 Ill. App. 3d 776 (2d Dist. 2004), Illinois has recognized police and forensic interviewers from advocacy centers as being testimonial in nature and therefore inadmissible. This may be burdensome to the prosecution’s case in the future as forensic interviewers are used by police, state’s attorneys, and child protection service agencies to interview the child victim once and not re-traumatize the child victim by having to tell the story multiple times. This also may only leave the statements made to the child’s relatives or other friends and possibly hospital personnel as admissible hearsay in prosecuting child sexual abuse cases in Illinois. 

Nursing Homes And Sex Offenders

The Chicago Tribune has an interesting article about Illinois sex offenders in nursing homes. According to the article, most sex offenders who live in nursing homes are not listed on the registry. From the article:

Under Illinois law, families researching nursing homes are directed to search a state police Web site for critical information about sex offenders living in the facilities.

But only 59 of the 192 sex offenders in Illinois nursing homes -- or less than one in three -- were listed on that online state registry, a Tribune investigation found.

The shortfall is especially acute in Chicago, where fewer than one in five sex offenders in nursing homes were posted on the state police Web site, the Tribune found.

Part of the problem is a gap in the law: Although some sex offenders can remain dangerous for decades if unmonitored and untreated, many are no longer required to register with police if their convictions or final parole dates occurred more than 10 years ago.

In addition, state investigators have documented more than a dozen instances since 2007 in which nursing homes failed to notify local law enforcement that they housed a convicted sex offender, as required by law, or failed to implement care plans to monitor and treat sex offenders inside the facilities, the Tribune found.

In some cases those offenders allegedly went on to molest vulnerable residents and even staff, according to state public health reports.

Almost a Sex Crime: Lawyers and Clients

Above the Law has a post about whether attorneys should be allowed to have sex with their clients. The post mentions that California and Texas are considering banning sex with clients in most situations. The proposed language is very similar to Rule 1.8(j) of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides that a "lawyer shall not have sexual relations with a client unless a consensual sexual relationship existed between them when the client-lawyer relationship commenced." The Illinois Supreme Court has adopted this rule effective January 1, 2010. From Above the Law:

The California State Bar Association is considering a change to the professional rules of conduct to “prohibit sex with clients unless they are spouses or the relations preceded the lawyer-client relationship,” according to The Recorder. The Texas Supreme Court is suggesting the same type of thing in the Lone Star state, according to the Texas Lawyer.

The American Bar Association generally frowns on lawyers getting into their clients’ briefs. The argument against taking discovery to the bedroom is that sexy time undermines an attorney’s ability to give objective advice and to keep his or her interest from limiting that of the client.

On the other hand, regulating bed behavior potentially violates a lawyer’s privacy and the right to freedom of association.

ATL readers, we turn the debate over to you. Is it okay for lawyers to be their clients’ master debaters and masturbators? Moving beyond the theoretical, how many of you have actually had to grapple with this? Take our polls and hear some stories, after the jump.

When we write about lawyer-client sex here at ATL, it’s usually of the problematic variety. See the story of Stanford grad James Tipler, who made his clients pay their legal fees with sexual favors. Or the story of 72-year-old personal injury attorney Allen Isaac who wanted a blow job as part of his retention fee. Or the story of Washington state divorce lawyer Lowell Halverson who was disciplined by the Washington Supreme Court for repeatedly having affairs with his emotionally distraught clients.

Student Post - Cook County Sherriff Tom Dart Accuses Craigslist of Promoting Prostitution

Craigslist is such a useful website. I have used it in the past to look for apartments, secure my first job before law school as a pre-school teacher, and find hard to get tickets to Cubs games. However, IL has now found another not so useful feature of craigslist. From CNN:

Cook County Sherriff Tom Dart wants the popular website to eliminate its “erotic services” section. Dart states that Craigslist serves as the “single largest source of prostitution in the nation”. Dart also stated “Missing children, runaways, abused women and women trafficked in from foreign countries are routinely forced to have sex with strangers because they're being pimped on craigslist." Craigslist e-mailed a response to CNN stating that “craigslist is an extremely unwise choice for those intent on committing crimes, since criminals inevitably leave an electronic trail to themselves that law enforcement officers will follow”. Craigslist entered into an agreement with 43 states to impose restrictions on its “erotic services” section. These restrictions include phone number verifications to make sure real phone numbers are being used in the ads, and also imposing a listing fee for posting in that section. Dart responded to the measures imposed by craigslist by saying it is “ dirty money” and that pimps use stolen credit cards or just post their ads in other free sections of craigslist.

On this issue I agree with Dart. Practically speaking, there is no good way to deter pimps, prostitutes, or individuals offering sexual services for that matter from posting ads on Craigslist. Although Craigslist makes a good argument that it is unwise for individuals seeking to promote prostitution to post on Craigslist because they are giving a trail to the authorities as to their whereabouts; this fear alone obviously does not deter them from posting as evidenced by the amount of posts still there. Imposing a requirement for individuals wishing to post in the “erotic services” section to pay a fee using a credit card does not seem to be a viable way to deter prostitution either. In defense of Craigslist I would also argue that it is not viable for them to try and regulate every single section of their website. Individuals who want to solicit sexual services will figure out how to post on different sections of their website.

Craigslist now has an “adult services” section in lieu of the “erotic services” section. The biggest difference being that all photos and text will be manually reviewed by craigslist before being posted.

Student Post - Brian Dugan, Convicted Murderer Seeks to Taint Jury Pool

Brian Dugan had been sentenced to life in inprison for the 1984 rape and murder of twenty seven year old Donna Schnorr and the 1985 rape and murder of seven year old Melissa Ackerman.

Prior to these two horrific incidents, Jeanine Nicarico a ten year old girl from Naperville was home from sick school with the flu on February 25, 1983.  Jeanine went missing on that February day to be found dead two days later.  Jeanine Nicarico was raped and murder just like Donna Schnorr and Melissa Ackerman would be a year later and two years later, respectively.

Countless other young girls and women were approached by Brian Dugan; some were able to escape unharmed, but others had not been so lucky.  In the aftermath of these terrible tragedies, several woman had come forth saying they had been raped by Brian Dugan.

In 1985, Brian Dugan admitted to raping and murdering Jeanine Nicaro; yet, his admission was completely disregarded.  Since then, two other men, Ronaldo Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez, had been wrongfuly convicted of the rape and murder of Jeanine Nicarico.  Both of these men had spent countless years in prison for a crime that Dugan had confessed to.  What does this say about our criminal justice system?

Over twenty years later, in November of 2005, Brian Dugan was first indicted for the rape and murder of Jeanine Nicarico.  Would justice finally be served?  Upon Dugan's indictment in the Nicarcio case, we have  learned of Dugan's troubled beginnings.  His dad was an alcoholic.  He ran away from home at fifteen when he committed his first burgarly.  Trouble with law enforcement led to Dugan being sent from one juvenile facility to another to jail to prison, but he had always been released early. 

At the age of seventeen, Brian Dugan approached a ten year old girl named Barbara asking for directions, but she was one of the lucky ones who was able to escape.

Now Brian Dugan is fifty two years old.  He has not seen the light of day since 1985; over twenty four years ago.  Twenty four years after confessing to the rape and murder of Jeanine Nicarico once again Brian Dugan has confessed to committing this terrible tragedy.  Joe Birkett, ironically, a John Marshall alumni, is pushing for the death sentence of Brian Dugan. 

Media reports tell us that Brian Dugan is in isolation for contacting media outlets.  It has been alleged that Dugan is contacting media outlets to taint possible jury pools.  In determing whether Dugan should be sentenced to death, is Dugan's attempt to contact the media really going to make a differnce when a jury of twelve decide his fate after he admitted to raping and killing a ten year old little girl?

Judge Bakalis describes Dugan's attempt to contact the media as one to spread the word that he is a changed man.  Will Bakalis' isolation of Dugan to prevent him from contacting the media really make a difference?  Will a jury have already made up its mind in deciding Dugan's fate?  A twice convicted rapist and murderer?  Brian Dugan is already serving life in prison.  Nothing the criminal justice system does can bring Jeanine back.  You be the judge on whether an attempt to cut off media publicity of the Brian Dugan potential death penalty sentencing will really matter?

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id-308721

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-dugan-plea-29-jul29,0,7666614.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-dugan-02-sep02,0,1048455.story?track=rss

Illinois Bans All Sex Offenders from Social Networking Sites

Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn singed a new law yesterday which makes it a felony for a registered sex offender to use social networking sites. Like most other broadly worded sex offender restrictions, this new law is sure to raise all sorts of constitutional problems. From the Chicago Tribune:

Gov. Pat Quinn signed new laws Tuesday designed to limit sex offenders' use of technology as a way to find more victims.

"Obviously, the Internet has been more and more a mechanism for predators to reach out," said Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), a sponsor of the measure and a governor candidate. "The idea was, if the predator is supposed to be a registered sex offender, they should keep their Internet distance as well as their physical distance.

"The object is to protect innocent individuals on the Internet from sex offenders."

Quinn also signed into law a new offense known as grooming, where a predator over time coaxes a minor into meeting for sexual activities. The law, whose sponsors included Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo), is aimed at closing a loophole in the current sex registration law, he said. It takes effect immediately.

For a discussion of one of the constitutional issues that is certain to arise, you might check out this article by my research assistant here at Sex Crimes.

Update: In the comments, sexoffenderissues links to the actual bill and notes that the restriction only applies to persons on probation or parole. That changes the legal situation for the law in a couple respects. First, convicts rarely challenge parole and probation conditions for fear of having their parole and probation revoked. That means even if there are constitutional problems, they might not be litigated for a while. Second, courts are usually more inclined to uphold restrictions that are part of a parole or probation scheme. 

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the media reported the law as being much broader, but it is still disappointing.

7th Circuit on Prostitution and Money Laundering

Michael O'Hear has a detailed and interesting discussion of two 7th Circuit opinions in prostitution cases in his weekly roundup:

The next two cases both deal with spas in Rockford, Illinois, that were run as fronts for prostitution.  (Yes, if you thought the “Paradise Health Spa” in Rockford sounded too good to be true, you were right.)  The various owners of the businesses collected money from the johns, put it into business accounts, and drew on the accounts to pay rent, utilities — customers at the “Royal Health Spa” were given a shower along with their “massage” — and advertising.  (With all of the “spas” in Rockford, the competition for customers must have been fierce!)  The owners were plainly guilty of many crimes, but how about money laundering? ...

But the two Rockford cases, United States v. Hodge (Nos. 06-3485 & 06-3502) and United States v. Lee (Nos. 06-3029 et al.), presented a difficulty: in the time since Scialabba had been decided, the Supreme Court issued its own pronouncement on the meaning of “proceeds” in United States v. Santos – a pronouncement whose implications for Hodge and Lee were not entirely clear....

In the view of the Hodge and Lee panels, Stevens’ position was consistent with Scialabba when it came to rent and utilities: these are normal business expenses for a brothel, and their payment should not give rise to money-laundering liability.  But advertising might be in different category: in Easterbrook’s words, “It is possible to carry on organized crime without advertising it.”  Thus, “Justice Stevens may well conclude that . . . advertising costs are not subtracted when defining ‘proceeds.’”  Ultimately, though, this tentative conclusion was as far as the court got in resolving the advertising issue.  In both Hodge and Lee, the jury instructions failed to make clear the important distinctions that had to be made with regard to the definition of “proceeds,” and it was possible that the defendants were convicted on the basis of paying their rent and utility bills (which would not be money laundering) instead of on the basis of their advertising expenditures (which might or might not count as money laundering).  Given the risk of conviction on an improper basis, the defendants’ convictions had to be reversed — leaving a definitive resolution of the advertising question for another day.

So, the cases are much more about money laundering than sex crimes, but the law involved is incredibly interesting. Money laundering statutes are incredibly hard to draft and courts often struggle with deciding how to apply such laws in particular cases.

Student Post - Teacher Accused of Sexual Assault of Student

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 13, 2009 for Linda Pithyou, who has been charged with sexual assault. Linda was a teacher at Lawrence Hall Youth Services. She is accused of having sex with one of her male students from the alternative school for at-risk youths. Linda is among a large number of teachers accused of sexual assault of students. Although she has been dismissed from the school, the psychological damage has already been done. The psychological consequences that can follow from relationships such as these teacher-student affairs demand strict enforcement of the laws prohibiting such conduct. The risk factors involved were compounded by the at-risk status of this student.

Lawrence Hall is intended to provide additional support and services to youths affected by multiple risk factors for conduct and emotional problems. Psychologists have explained that children with similar experiences early in life may have different problems later in life. This distinction is between multifinality and equifinality. This results because there are many contributors to any psychological disorder, and children have different risk and resilience factors. Psychologists look to the resources and events within the individual, family and school/community. Lawrence Hall is intended to provide at-risk youth with “adults outside the family who take an interest in promoting the child’s welfare,” a characteristic that promotes resilience in the face of adversity. When a teacher abuses this relationship, however, the impact may be magnified given the lack of external resilience factors and frustration already experienced by the student.

Studies that show women typically receive lighter punishment than men in the circumstances point to a clear problem of incongruency between damage that is caused and the punishment received. Research does not show that victims of sexual assault by men fair worse than victims of women. As society continues its efforts to increase knowledge of the psychology and development of children, the law needs to evolve to consider these developments. The punishment Linda faces, if found guilty, needs to consider the many facets of damage she has caused.

Ill. Sex Offender Busted for Not Registering His MySpace Page

The State of Illinois requires sex offenders to register with law enforcement various online identifying information, including "all blogs and other Internet sites maintained by the sex offender or to which the sex offender has uploaded any content or posted any messages or information."  Unsurprisingly, this registration requirement has recently resulted in the arrest of one sex offender for having a MySpace page. From KMOV:

Police busted a convicted sex offender for operating a Myspace web page.

Gregory Kruckeberg, 27, was arrested thanks to a news law in Illinois.

Captain Brad Wells of the Madison County sheriff's office said it doesn't appear Kruckeberg used the site for anything illegal.

"It's not illegal to have them but they have to let law enforcement know of those emails addresses or internet sites they maintain which would include Myspace or Facebook or any social networking sites," he said.

Kruckeberg's mother, told News 4 her son, who lives with her outside of Bethalto, was convicted 4 years ago over an incident with an underage girlfriend.

Unaware of the new law, she said her son's Myspace page was used to post a picture of the daughter from that relationship.

"He didn't do anything illegal on Myspace. He doesn't get in there to talk to or find bad stuff. To me putting a picture of his daughter he was proud, I was proud you know."

But that pride is being quickly erased by the reality that this tough new Illinois law could put her son in prison for three years.

H/T: Sex Offender Issues.