Articles Posted in Sex Crimes

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y9c55ie0fs0-joel-herzogControversy has always surrounded the disclosure aspects of the sex offender registration program in Chicago. To some this is nothing more than a charter for vigilantes to attack those who have already served their time. To others 730 ILCS 152/115 represents a much needed public protection mechanism in an age in which sex offenders are getting more and more egregious in their crimes. In any case the law mandates that the State Police Department maintains a sex offender database which is readily accessible on the internet. Placement on the list is restricted to certain types of offenses. Crimes against children are high up on the agenda when it comes to the registration and disclosure process.

Confronting the Constitutional Implications of the Unpalatable

From one perspective, both 730 ILCS 150/2(B) and 730 ILCS 150/2(C) are tantamount to giving vigilantes a heads-up on which people and homes to attack. Sex offenders are already a vulnerable segment of convicted felons since they face being ostracized within and outside of prison. On the other hand, the public feels that they have a right to know about a category of offending that is highly susceptible to recidivism. The criteria for addition to the list is rather harsh on offenders and includes anyone who has been convicted of commission or attempted commission of a sex offense. Even those that are not guilty by reason of insanity are included. More controversially, the provisions for inclusion cover those who are subject to a finding that is not an acquittal at a hearing for an alleged commission or attempted commission of the offense.

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Baseball_capThe Chicago Tribune reports that the Naperville police are offering a $1,000 reward for information about the motorist who exposed himself to a 15-year-old girl on July 15 near Prairie and Charles Avenues. Apparently the suspect, a white male in his mid-40’s to early-50’s, drove past the girl as she was riding her bike down the street, stopped a short distance in front of her, and emerged from his vehicle wearing only a baseball cap. The police note that the man covered his genitals and did not say anything as the girl biked past him. While the girl was not physically harmed, the man will still likely face a public indecency charge if the police are able to find him.

Public Indecency in Illinois

Public indecency, referred to as indecent exposure in some states, is a criminal offense in Illinois. While some people view flashing as a harmless act, exposing yourself under some circumstances can land you in a lot of legal trouble. Under Illinois law 720 ILCS 5/11-30 any person who is 17-years-old or older commits the crime of public indecency if he or she engages in either of the following acts in a public place:

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While the First Amendment protects the right of adults to watch and produce pornography, this right is not without limitations. For example, child pornography is not protected under the First Amendment and is always illegal. Child pornography is any visual depiction of a minor, aka a person under 18 years old, engaging in a sexual activity. In recent years the federal government has become more and more focused on prosecuting those who have allegedly produced, distributed, or viewed child pornography.

One of the most recent child pornography cases in Illinois involves a Yorkville man who was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison for a child pornography conviction and for violating the Sex Offender Registration Act, reports MyInforms.com. As the man had been convicted of child pornography related crimes three times before, the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office conducted a compliance check in December 2015 to confirm that the Yorkville man was in compliance with the Sex Offender Registration Act. MyInforms.com notes that via this compliance check the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force discovered that approximately 100 images depicting child pornography had been downloaded to the man’s personal computer. After obtaining a search warrant, investigators found that the man was illegally in possession of images showing children younger than 13 years old engaged in sexual acts. The man was charged with five counts of possessing child pornography depicting a child less than 13 years, which is a Class 1 felony.

The Sex Offender Registration Act

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Baseball Stadium Seats
According to the Chicago Tribune, a Pittsburgh Pirates infielder who was in town to play the Chicago Cubs on June 17 has been accused of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman in Chicago. The sexual assault allegation is currently being investigated by police, but the baseball player has not yet been charged with a crime. According to the police, the Chicago woman made contact with the infielder via a dating app and the two agreed to meet at his hotel room at approximately 10 p.m. The woman alleges that that he served her one alcoholic drink that caused her to black out roughly 15 minutes later, and that he sexually assaulted her while she drifted in and out of consciousness. The alleged victim had a rape kit done two days later and filed a complaint with the police 10 days after the alleged sexual assault took place. While this woman took action quickly to have a rape kit done and file a police report, it is important to know that after a sexual assault occurs there is a timeframe within which rape kits must be done and sexual assault charges must be filed in order to be effective.

Rape Kits

A ‘rape kit’, also referred to as a Sexual Assault Evidence Kit (SAEK), is a sexual assault forensic exam kit that is used to collect DNA evidence from a victim’s body, clothing, and other personal belongings after a crime is committed. Rape kits are used to help sexual assault victims preserve possible DNA evidence in case they decide to report that they were attacked. During a sexual assault forensic exam the survivor will generally be examined from head-to-toe, evidence will be collected, and follow up care will be recommended. According to Cleveland.com, rape kits can usually recover testable evidence within 96 hours of an assault. Therefore, the fact that the alleged victim in the sexual assault case outlined above had a rape kit conducted two days after she went to the baseball player’s hotel room should not have prevented DNA evidence from being collected.

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file0002022362803One in five women will be sexually assaulted while in college, according to a recent study by the Association of American Universities. Despite the alarming prevalence of rape on campuses, many universities remain complacent or unresponsive in reacting to reports of rape. The aggressive White House initiatives and campaigns, led by a task force formed in 2014, have transformed the way colleges and universities respond to allegations of sexual misconduct, as well as the level of awareness among college students about rape and the culture of rape.

Ending sexual violence on campuses across the nation has been one of the Obama Administration’s most passionate policy initiatives since 2011. The Department of Education and Vice President Biden published a comprehensive guideline for universities to help them understand their legal obligations under federal law. In January 2014, the administration established the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. In April of that year, the Task Force launched a public awareness and education campaign called “It’s On Us.” to further advance and galvanize efforts across the nation to prevent sexual assault. The campaign has sought “to fundamentally shift the way we think about sexual assault, by inspiring everyone to see it as their responsibility to do something, big or small, to prevent it.” See White House Press Release on “It’s On Us.”

Since the launch of the campaign, more than 344,400 people have taken the White House pledge, and 530 schools in 48 states currently have active It’s On Us chapters. Reports of campus sexual assault have surged in the last few years, which legal experts attributed to increased awareness and knowledge of the issue.  

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file000925712800Prostitution has been called the “oldest profession in the world,” probably because it has been around since the beginning of time. Since sex is considered a trade by those involved in the industry, can it therefore be surmised that a sexual assault and battery on a person involved in the industry not be considered a true crime?

Some time ago, a Chicago Sun-Times editor by the name of Mary Mitchell ran an article stating that in her opinion, a sexual assault and battery on a prostitute is nothing more than a “theft of services,” and not a rape. It is Mitchell’s belief that in considering the sexual assault of a prostitute working in the “industry” a rape, did nothing more than minimize the act of rape of “real” victims and, therefore, an insult to those whom she labeled as “real” victims. It begs the question whether Mitchell would also not consider a wife who had been raped by her husband, a “real” victim.

Mitchell proceeded to blame the victim for the assault, because, in her opinion, the very nature of the sex industry meant that the victim was agreeing to exchange sex for money, and by doing so, she also accepted any risk involved. Is she right? See HuffPost Chicago for more on this story.

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When doctor/patient relationships get a little too close, sometimes bizarre things can happen. Take for example, the case of Dr. David Newman, an emergency room physician at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Dr. Newman is accused of drugging a patient and then ejaculating onto the patient’s face. If that is not bizarre enough, his defense should qualify him for admittance into the Guinness Book of Records under “strange and untenable” defenses used in the commission of a crime. See HuffPost Crime and ABC7 Eyewitness News for the complete story.

After Dr. Newman’s unprofessional emergency room behavior came to light, there have been three other accusations of acts of sexual assault and battery committed by Dr. Newman on his patients after they had been drugged.

Since When Did Sexual Assault Become Part of the Care and Treatment of Patients?

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Church
The story of the defrocked priest, Daniel McCormack is back in the news. This time, because the prosecution has decided to drop the sexual assault charges against him stemming from a 2005 case involving the abuse of a then 10-year-old boy. In this case, the prosecution was seeking to have McCormack declared a “sexually violent offender.” If successful, the prosecutors would have been able to have McCormack removed indefinitely from society.

The Crime

Since the 1980s there have been a number of accusations involving the Catholic Church and its priests concerning alleged sexual misconduct and cover-ups. These cases started coming to light as now adult victims began to recount incidents of abuse, at the hands of these priests, that happened to them when they were children. The allegations of cover-up by the Catholic hierarchy permitted these priests to continue with this conduct, unabated for many years, by moving the abusive priests from one parish to another, allowing for the continuation of the abusive behavior. See BishopAccountability.org

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Rape and sexual assaults are crimes punishable by long prison sentences and with the “Mark of Cain” following the accused for the rest of his or her life. It can be a destroyer of reputations, and sometimes, of life. But what happens to the accused when the accusation proves to be false?

Rape and Rumors of Rape

In 2014, Rolling Stone Magazine published a story about a horrific 2012 gang rape of a University of Virginia freshman. The article was supposed to expose underreported rape and sexual assaults on campuses and what, if anything, college administrators and society as a whole was doing about it. Members of the fraternity where the alleged rape was supposed to have taken place were all painted with a broad brush as “rapists.” Conversations and debates about this problem went viral, but as it did, more and more people began to question certain facts about the case and the real motive behind Rolling Stone Magazine’s reporting of it. Under intense scrutiny, the facts, or lack thereof, that precipitated the writing of the article eventually fell apart, and Rolling Stone Magazine retracted the story. Its editor left the magazine with the dark cloud of journalistic malpractice following him out the door. See NewYork.com for details about this story.

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Pop quiz: If suspected of committing a crime such as sexual assault, when should you talk to an attorney, before or after interrogation? Some people charged with a crime think they know the answer to this question, but sadly, many find out too late that they did not.

Police officers are required to advise you of your Constitutional “right to counsel” (Mirandized) before they start questioning you after an arrest. If you state at any time during the process that you want to exercise your right to counsel, the interrogation must stop and you will be permitted to talk to your attorney. If you do not ask to speak to an attorney, the interrogation will continue and anything you say can be used against you during a trial, if any.

There are some crimes that carry with them such a stigma that once accused, the taint sticks whether the accusation can be proven or not, such is the accusation of “sexual assault.” Notwithstanding the fact that there are many actual, provable cases of criminal sexual assault, for instance, the case where the Rabbi admitted sexually assaulting a young boy who was member of his synagogue (see DNAinfo.com), there are far too many where the accusation, without more, becomes the basis for the conviction.

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