Ind., Ill. eyeing registry of murderers
CHICAGO -- Earlier this month, as police dug up the basement of a small Hammond, Ind., home and discovered the bodies of three teenagers, many questions nagged at Robert Raganyi, an uncle of one of the victims.
But one seemed especially salient: How could David Edward Maust, a twice-convicted child killer with a history of psychological problems, be let out of prison and live in their midst without the public's knowledge?
The answer is simple: Unlike sex offenders, there are no laws requiring convicted murderers to register with police about their whereabouts once they have been released from parole.
Now, officials in both Indiana and Illinois, where Maust spent 17 years in prison for killing a teenager, are considering whether those states should create a registry for convicted murderers. Montana has one for violent offenders, including murderers, but it appears no other state has followed suit.
"I don't understand our laws," said Raganyi, the uncle of James Raganyi, 16, one of the slain boys. "The justice system has me completely baffled now."
Last week, two Indiana representatives, Robert Kuzman and Linda Lawson, Democratic leaders of House Judiciary committee, announced they would introduce a bill or an amendment next month to change the sex-offender registry law to include murderers.
In Illinois, officials were researching this week whether a similar move was necessary here.
"I have an open mind," said Senator Kirk Dillard, chairman of the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee. "I think if you polled most Illinoisans, they would prefer they have the option to see if a killer might live in their neighborhood."
Still, he said he would wait to hear from the law enforcement officials about how such a registry would work before committing to any legislation.
"We're having our legislative people look at it to see if it's a viable proposal -- whether it would be viable to do for everyone, fair to do it for everybody," said Jerry Lawrence, spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office, which prosecuted Maust for the 1981 murder of 15-year-old Donald Jones.
The question, at least in Illinois, is whether to monitor all murderers or only those with the predilection for violence shown by Maust.
There are some safeguards built into Illinois law now. All murderers of children convicted since 1996 have to register as a sex offender for 10 years. Those convicted of killing children since 1999 are considered sexual predators under the law, even if the crime did not involve a sexual component, and must register for life.
But of the 7,000 or so people now in prison for murder in Illinois, most were convicted before 1996. They would not have to register.
Officials, led by Attorney General Lisa Madigan, are now are considering broadening the law to include killers of children convicted before 1996 or, perhaps, all murderers, regardless of the victim's age.
"The issue really is what can and should be done for the Mausts that we have right now," said Cara Smith, policy director for the Illinois attorney general's office. "If there's anything we can do, we'll do it."
Arthur Lurigio, a criminologist at Loyola University in Chicago, wonders whether it would be worth the cost to register all convicted killers, given that murderers, unlike sex offenders, have a low recidivism rate.
Consider: In the year 2000, 308 inmates were paroled on murder charges from the Illinois Department of Corrections. Of those, 93 were sent back to prison, but only 10, or 3.2 percent, were sent back after committing another murder.
Some sort of risk-assessment tool -- including such factors as a history of violence and of substance abuse or mental illness, and whether there was a sexual element to their crimes -- should be created to determine whether inmates pose a substantial risk upon release, Lurigio said.
"By [Maust's] own admission, he wasn't a good risk," Lurigio said.
"He let people know, `I'm likely to do the same thing again, because of some pathology that drives me to do it.' "
Indeed, Maust wrote an 87-page diary before he was extradited to Illinois in 1983 for the murder of Jones that detailed a history of violence and his inability to control urges to hurt others and murder. He even wrote how he wished to receive the death penalty, so he wouldn't hurt others again.
While awaiting trial, he was repeatedly sent to mental institutions as psychologists described a sad, emotionally troubled, and violent man. He finally pleaded guilty to Jones's murder in 1994 and was sentenced to 35 years.
But with credit for time served in Cook County Jail, he was released from prison in 1999 and spent three years on parole. By the time Maust moved to Hammond in 2002, he was off the radar.
Maust has been charged in the deaths of Raganyi, Michael Dennis, 13, and Nick James, 19.
"You have to have faith in our system," said Robert Raganyi, "but it needs repair."
