State sex offender lists have come under fire from critics who say the system relies too much on convicted felons to supply law enforcement agencies with information on their whereabouts.

The criticism has been highlighted by a study conducted by the Parents for Megan’s Law, a New York state-based organization that claims 24 percent of the nation’s sexual offenders that should be registered roam freely, and law enforcement agencies have no clue where they may be.

The sex offender laws were enacted by all 50 states and commonly termed Megan’s Laws, after the rape and murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka by a repeat sex offender in New Jersey led to a public outcry in 1994. The act led to the creation of the laws that have taken her name.

The purpose of the lists were to warn residents where released sex offenders live.

While the study indicated Illinois has a much lower number of unregistered offenders than the national average, the survey found 14 percent of sex offenders in Illinois have not reported their residences, and critics maintain the government should be responsible for providing the information on offenders’ whereabouts.

Under the law, a convicted sex offender in Illinois must register with local agencies, such as the sheriff’s department or the local police. That information then is turned over to the Illinois State Police, which compiles the information for online lists, available at http://www.isp.state.il.us/sor/frames.htm. The information remains there for 10 years after a conviction, according to Illinois State Police. The database contains more than 13,000 registrations and is updated daily.

DeKalb County has 85 registered sex offenders, and city of DeKalb accounts for 34 of those records. Illinois State Police Master Sergeant Rick Hector confirmed that 13.6 percent of the state’s offenders are not registered.

Hector said a non-compliant list is issued to all of Illinois’ 102 sheriff’s departments on a quarterly basis. Still, critics maintain states need to take a more active role in ensuring that the lists are complete.

“There are about 460,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S. and when released into the community, they have a dramatically higher recidivism rate for their crimes than any other type of violent felon,” said Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law on the group’s Web site. “Rapists repeat offenses at rates up to 35 percent, those molesting girls up to 29 percent and those molesting young boys at rates up to 40 percent.”

Ahearn maintains that these statistics point to reasons the lists must be accurate and maintained, and the laws are not succeeding in making that a reality.

Not everyone agrees that more needs to be done just yet. Hector said many more man hours and changes in the laws would be necessary for the state to improve the numbers of registered sex offenders in the state, and even then, there is no evidence that the changes would cause a decrease in unregistered offenders.

Those who disagree with the critics who would like to see the government take a more active role in ensuring the lists are complete point to several cases before the Supreme Court that challenge the Constitutionality of Megan’s Laws. They say there is no point in spending the resources to change the laws until those cases have come to completion.