Illinois

The Bean as viewed from the street.  This is as close as you're allowed to get.

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

2019  20 I.L.C.S. §4026/15  45 I.L.C.S. §§20/1 through 20/2  720 I.L.C.S. 5/Art. 11  730 I.L.C.S. §5/3-3-11.5  730 I.L.C.S. §§150/1 through 152/999  20 Ill. Adm. Code §§1280 through 1282.30

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 days for initial registration and updates.  “Residence” is any place at which one resides for 3 or more days in a year.  FAQ states that visitors are required to register if they spend “more than 3 days in a calendar year” in the state. Adams County sheriff dept. (Quincy) Nov. 2020, confirmed that it’s the 4th day that triggers registration.  Students & employees must register within 3 days of beginning school or employment in IL. 730 ILCS 150/3(a-5) Updated Aug. 2024.  Transient registrants must report weekly.  730 I.L.C.S. §150/3.

IL’s “sexual predator” category includes CP possession, and also ANY person required to register in another state. 730 ILCS 150/2 (E-10) Added Aug. 2024.

Per Rolfe Survey, visiting Registrants are placed on state’s website.  Per Adams County sheriff dept. (Quincy) Oct. 2020, procedure is available for removal from registry after departure.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction: “Child sex offender” may not reside w/in 500 ft. of school, park, playground, or facility where minors gather.  §730 I.L.C.S. §150/8.

Presence restriction: “Child sex offender” may not knowingly be present in any public park, playground or recreation area; even if in a private building. "Public park" includes a park, forest preserve, bikeway, trail, or conservation area under the jurisdiction of the State or a unit of local government, but doesn’t mention national parks or forests.

“Child sex offender” may not loiter w/in 500 ft. of school facilities or be present in school facilities unless a parent present for specific reasons. 720 I.L.C.S. 5/Art. 11.

“Child sex offender” may not knowingly photograph or videotape a child without permission of parent. 720 ILCS 5/11-24 Updated Aug. 2024.

Duration & updates:

10 yrs to lifetime.  SO moving to state: lifetime.  SVP must update quarterly. All other annually.  §730 I.L.C.S. §150/5-10.

And you can't go on the Chicago River Ride because the entire river and riverfront are parks!

Recognizance Mission: October 2020

Illinois has among the most onerous restrictions of any state, applying both to its own registered citizens and to visiting registrants. No “Child sex offender” may reside within 500 feet of any school, park, playground, or facility where minors gather.  §730 I.L.C.S. §150/8.  No registrant of any kind may knowingly be present in “any public park,” nor loiter within 500 ft. of school facilities or be present in school facilities unless you are a parent present for specific reasons. 720 I.L.C.S. 5/Art. 11. “Public park” is defined as “any state or local park or forest reserve.”  Therefore no registrant, whether resident or visitor, can visit Chicago’s famed Millennium Park or any museums or displays therein.

However, state law doesn’t mention historic sites, national parks or forests, of which Illinois has many.  Therefore you can presumably visit Lincoln’s Home National Historic Site in Springfield.  You can also go camping and hiking in Shawnee National Forest.  If you plan to visit any of these places, however, you’d better make it quick because Illinois allows you only three aggregate days in-state per calendar year before you will be required to register.  And while an Illinois resident’s duration of registration for a Tier 1 offense is “only” 10 years, it’s lifetime for all out of state offenders no matter the offense.

In October 2020 I conducted a recognizance mission to Illinois.  I sneaked in across the Mississippi River from Missouri to visit the Adams County Sheriff’s Department in Quincy, IL to get answers to questions not addressed in state law or in their on-line FAQ document.  Questions I hadn’t been able to get answers to because the Illinois SOR office doesn’t answer the phone.

The lady behind the bullet proof glass referred me to “the sheriff’s deputy who handles all the SO’s.”  I wanted to know:

* As a visiting registrant, do partial days count toward my precious three aggregate days per calendar year?  Answer: Yes – but only if you stay at least one night.  “So if I stay overnight tonight and leave tomorrow that’s two days, but if I get in my car and go back to Missouri before the end of today, this partial day won’t count?”  “Yes that’s right.”

* If I have only three aggregate days per calendar year, does that third day trigger my registration requirement?  Or does the requirement only trigger if I stay a fourth day?  Answer – Fourth day.  That’s actually a glimmer of good news, because some states don’t even cut you that much slack.

* If I find myself in a position where I am required to register in your state, is there a procedure for removal after I return to my home state?  Considering that it’s lifetime registry for all out of state offences, I consider this to be a crucial question.  Answer – Yes (good news!) but they don’t make it easy.  You will of course have to notify the local Illinois sheriff that you’re “moving out of state” (presumably back to your actual home state).  They put you in “moving status” and notify the state you are “moving to” that you’re coming.  You must arrive within three days, and your home sheriff’s department must notify Illinois of your arrival.  Illinois puts you in “inactive status,” takes you off their website and according to this Adams County sheriff’s deputy you don’t show up as an Illinois registrant if you get pulled over for a blown taillight in Montana.  However, they keep you in their file system in case you have the insolence to return some day and stay for more than three days.

With these answers in hand I got in my car and sneaked back to Missouri before the end of the afternoon, thereby not using up even one of my precious three aggregate days for calendar year 2020 in Illinois.

Lincoln's Home National Historic Site, 

which you can visit because it's a national park, not a state or local park.

Most recent visit: May 2023

As part of my 2023 Mid-South & Northeast tour I passed through southern Illinois on my way from Missouri to Kentucky.  I decided this would be my first time staying overnight, specifically in Shawnee National Forest.  The map shows many available campgrounds but the one I set my sights on turned out to be a hard to find place with absolutely no facilities. Note to self: next time, definitely skip Lake of Egypt. The silver lining was that it was free – you get what you pay for.  The next morning I was on my way out of state.

However, just staying in that crappy campground one night consumed two of my precious three days per calendar year in Illinois, and here I am admitting to it in writing.  Therefore I will need to avoid staying overnight for the rest of 2023, although I can drive through without staying overnight as many times as I want.

And so I did – on my way home to Iowa from the Northeast on the same cross-country trip.  I was just passing through on I-80 but I had as much of the day as I wanted to do it, so I looked at my map of Illinois and picked out a few not-too-far-off-the-highway attractions to stop at.  These included:

• Norwegian Settlers Monument in Sheridan (watch out – it’s really quite close to Sheridan Correctional Center!) 
• A nearby piece of guerilla sculpture in the form of a crashing airplane!
• Wild Bill Hickok’s Birthplace Memorial in Troy.
• A bald eagle’s nest, with growing eaglets visible and everything, in a tree appropriately across the street from the bust of Wild Bill!

Guerilla sculpture near the Norwegian Settlers Monument in Sheridan, IL

Visiting Chicago in June 2022

While traveling from my Iowa summer home to the 2022 NARSOL National Conference I had to pass through Illinois anyway, so I decided to make a little side trip and spend most of a day sightseeing in Chicago.  This turns out to be a little trickier than you might think, due mainly to Illinois’s restriction against being present in any state or local park of which there are many.  In fact many of the main museums and public events you want to visit are within Millennium Park which sprawls across Chicago’s lakefront.

Example: A gentleman at the NARSOL Conference told me he was planning on attending Chicago’s Pride Month event the following weekend.  I had to reply to him, “Not if it’s in Millennium Park you’re not!” explaining about the presence restriction.  I was able to offer the following possible out:  Often the crowds and booths and activities with this kind of event spill out into the public sidewalks and streets surrounding the park.  Even the sidewalk on the east side of Michigan Ave. isn’t part of the Millennium Park, it’s part of the street right-of-way and you can be there.

Parking upon your arrival in Chicago is another tricky issue.  The main parking garages all the signs direct you to are the big ones underneath Millennium Park.  You can’t park there!  Even the elevators up to street level let you out within the park.  Instead you’ll need to find parking anywhere else!

Once you’ve solved that problem you can visit any attraction that’s not in a park or school.  You can eat at any of the city’s great restaurants and go to its theaters.  The famous Picasso sculpture is in an office building plaza that’s open to the public.  That’s not a state or local park, so you can walk right up to it, take your photos and even touch it.

You can stay as late in the evening as you want and enjoy the nightlife – as long as you skedaddle afterward and stay overnight at an out-of-state motel to avoid using up two of your precious three days aggregate per calendar year in the state of Illinois.  After my Chicago visit I crossed into Indiana where I was allowed to stay the night at a state park campground.