A registry for killers more harm than good

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Murderers are hardly a bunch likely to draw much sympathy.

So it’s not surprising that a proposed state law to put people convicted of first-degree murder on a registry similar to that used for sex offenders sailed out of committee in Springfield last week and is on its way to the full House floor.

The bill would require offenders to register with the Illinois State Police upon their release from prison, and their photo, address and place of employment would be posted online for 10 years after their prison sentence ends.

The registry also would apply retroactively to former inmates now on parole.

The bill is named after Andrea Will, a Batavia woman who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Justin Boulay, in 1998. Boulay served only half of his 24-year sentence before being released on parole and moving to Hawaii to live with a woman he had married in prison.

It’s perfectly understandable that Will’s mother, Patricia Rosenberg, and others whose loved ones’ lives have been taken violently would want murderers to suffer for their crimes long after they leave prison. And we all have a legitimate interest in wanting to know when someone with a violent past moves in next door.

But the proposed legislation would do more harm than good.

The logic of sex offender registries is that at least some small percentage of sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated; released from prison, they will repeat the same crimes. Society must know who they are to protect itself.

But aside from monsters like John Wayne Gacy, there is no compelling evidence that people who have committed murder are likely to commit murder again, especially after serving a 20- to 30-year prison term.

What is clear is that the tougher we make it for ex-offenders to find and keep a legitimate job, the more likely they are to return to crime.

Posting convicted murderers’ names and photos on an online registry might seem, at first blush, like a way to protect society, but it’s really nothing more than a way to heap extra punishment on people who have already done their time.