R. Kelly has been in the headlines again for all the wrong reasons. The documentary entitled Surviving R. Kelly has made major waves across the nation. Now, R. Kelly finds himself on trial once again for crimes that he claims he did not commit. What is his strategy? Putting the…
An employee from the Waukegan School District was charged in late February with grooming and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, as stated by Chicago police and district officials. 26-year-old Gabriel Valadez was arrested at the administrative offices of Waukegan District 60. According to police, Valadez would chat with the girl…
If you have been arrested after being charged with a sex crime, your life may never be the same. In society, the opinion of sex crimes, particularly those committed against children, is very strong and very negative. Law enforcement has a similar attitude when in pursuit of or apprehending someone…
A continuous system for offering services to sex offenders from the time of incarceration to the time of discharge and then parole is being actively advanced by the Illinois Department of Corrections. For these continuous services to be facilitated, the department realized that all services related to sex offenders need…
Unfortunately, Chicago has acquired a reputation for child trafficking and is one of the crisis points recognized in the national strategy. Some of the people involved are supposed to be intimate partners who end up turning on the victims and forcing them to engage in indecent employment for little or…
At the heart of the laws on statutory rape in Chicago is the definition of the age of consent. At the moment, the age of consent in this state is 17 years of age. At the federal level, the age of consent is defined as that minimum age at which…
One of the current and most insidious forms of harassment is cyber bullying. It is now recognized as a serious crime in Chicago and prosecutors are highly motivated to go for those that continue doing it under the auspices of instrument number 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. § 5/12-7.5. The problem…
Revenge porn is a crime that is gaining prominence in the age of social media. The law in Chicago took some time to catch up with the reality that some victims were being exposed to serious danger. By 2015, the state legislature had decided to write a law that set…
The internet has not only opened up new avenues of communication, but has also created an entire category of crimes that require bespoke responses from the legislature. It is from that perspective that Chicago has come up with an internet solicitation legal framework which captures cyber sex crimes (720 ILCS…
Controversy 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…