Illinois gets penalized yearly for not meeting federal Sex Offender Registry standards, but keeps getting money back
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois loses grant money every year as a penalty for failing to meet federal standards with our Sex Offender Registry.
CBS 2's Tara Molina found Illinois manages to get that money back - more than $2.5 million worth. But the state still is not in good standing.
This has been going on for more than 10 years. Illinois loses grant money every single year since the state isn't in compliance with the federal Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act, or SORNA.
But we found every year the state is penalized and loses money, Illinois turns around and gets it back - claiming it needs every federal dollar to get into compliance.
But more than 10 years later, and with a total of $2,757,692 having been reallocated back into the state's pocket altogether since 2012, Illinois still isn't there yet.
A spokesperson for SMART -- the Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking office - within the U.S. Department of Justice -- confirmed last week that Illinois still isn't in compliance with federal guidelines for sex offender notification and registration, and hasn't been since 2011 – a dozen years. Penalties have been racking up as a result, but again, money keeps coming back to Illinois.
The Department of Justice has compiled a list showing how much penalized money has been returned to Illinois every year since 2012.
And a spokesperson says the state is working to get it back again this year.
The U.S. Department of Justice has compiled a list of all the penalized money returned to Illinois since 2012. The total was more than $200,000 for each and every one of those 11 years. In 2022, it was $255,968.
The funding comes in the form of Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Grants – named for an NYPD officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty in 1988.
Illinois told the feds the money would go toward "the development of the new record management system for the Illinois State Police."
So is that happening? What is changing? And where else has $2,757,692 gone so far?
We have exposed issues in the Illinois registry for years here at CBS 2. So we asked those in charge of it -- Illinois State Police.
A spokesperson released the following statement, saying it has used the grant money in the past just to maintain the current registry. State Police also said, as they have previously, that the Illinois General Assembly would need to change the law to comply with federal guidelines:
"Illinois is compliant with major portions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, including conviction-based registration, juvenile registration, and the requirement to register in person. Current Illinois law set by the General Assembly outlines convictions that result in a 10-year registration or lifetime registration. Offenders must register annually. To comply with SORNA, legislators would have to amend Illinois law to change the tiering structure; a minimum of 15 years with annual registration, 25 years with registration every six months, or lifetime with quarterly registration. States that are not compliant with SORNA are told they will lose a small percentage of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistant Grant Program funding. However, that funding is restored to those states to help become compliant.
"….As you noted, ISP is working to develop a new record management system. ISP has used the Edward Byrne funding in the past to sustain the sex offender registry in its current format – software, computers, scanners to electronically transmit documents to other state jurisdiction for registration purposes, etc."
The gist is that State Police have used the grant money in the past just to maintain the registry, not make it better.
So what needs to be made better, and where we are failing? The issues are sex offender tiering, community notification, and public website information posting.
So if the state gets another round of money, like it has for more than 10 years, will it even help?
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said it could.
We asked the DOJ if the state is still being penalized for noncompliance:
"As reflected on the OJP website at the link provided in response to Question 1, the State of Illinois has not yet been found to have substantially implemented SORNA. States that have not yet substantially implemented SORNA are subject to a 10% reduction in their Byrne Justice Assistance Grant funding for the following fiscal year. The State of Illinois therefore remains subject to the penalty, but it has consistently applied and received approval to apply for reallocation of those funds to use specifically for efforts related to SORNA implementation. More information about the reallocation process is available here.
We then asked the DOJ if the money returned to the state has made an impact in getting the state into compliance:
"Illinois has recently been using its reallocation funds for the implementation of its new sex offender registration and records management system, which may result in Illinois meeting more of SORNA's information-sharing requirements."
Again, state police said for the state to fully comply with SORNA, legislators would need to make adjustments to state law.
