A bill pending in the California legislature would require sex offenders who enroll at institutions of higher learning to register with campus police.
University of California-Berkeley’s University Police Capt. Bill Foley said the bill would improve campus safety by giving warning and possible leads in investigations.
“It would put us on notice, if the person would qualify as a serious sexual offender,” Foley said. “It also gives us investigative tools.”
The California university system now requires a sex offender living in university housing to register with the university police.
“We face the problem that few actually live on university property,” Foley said.
The proposed legislation would eliminate the issue by requiring the offender to register simply for being a student.
Northwestern does not need such a law, said Sgt. Dave Perkins of UP, because Evanston Police automatically notifies University Police if a student is a registered sex offender. Currently no NU students are registered sex offenders.
Illinois State Police is now requiring student sex offenders to register with university police, Lt. Glenn Turner said. Breaking the rule counts as a parole violation.
Maria Steingoltz, NU’s Take Back the Night co-chairwoman, said she supports required registration.
“If a man has been convicted of a sexual assault, he shouldn’t be living in a co-ed dorm,” said Steingoltz, a Weinberg sophomore.
Last February, the NU Sexual Assault Hearing and Appeals System suspended a resident of Bobb-McCulloch Hall after unanimously finding that he had sexually assaulted a female student. Although he was suspended for a year and was required to undergo psychological counseling, he remained on campus for six weeks until the completion of his appeal.
Foley said that of the four reported rapes last year at the University of California-Berkeley campus, three were by acquaintances.
California’s registration laws – in place for over 50 years – predate Megan’s Law, signed into federal law by President Clinton on May 17, 1996. The federal law mandates sex-offender registration and community notification. The criteria for implementing Megan’s Law are left up to individual states as long as they comply with certain guidelines.
In Illinois, a long list of offenses are subject to sex-offender registration, including aggravated criminal sexual assault or its attempt. A sex offender spending more than 10 days in Illinois is required to register with local law enforcement.
The names, addresses and photos of Illinois’ 11,500 registered offenders are available both at police departments and online, with no rules regulating the dissemination of information. Illinois is one of 29 states that offers state-sponsored Internet access to sex offender registries.
There are 39 registered sex offenders in the city of Evanston.
