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Sex offenders sue over $100 registration fee

A lawsuit accuses the city of Chicago of unfairly refusing to waive a $100 registration fee for sex offenders who are too poor to pay.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the federal lawsuit seeks class-action status and an injunction to prevent the city from denying registration to sex offenders who ask for a waiver.

Sex offenders can be jailed if they don’t pay the fee, but authorities may waive it for anyone deemed indigent.

In court papers, one plaintiff says he’s in jail for not registering because he couldn’t pay. The city, however, contends he couldn’t register because he didn’t present proper identification.

City officials say the state law requiring the fee has been found constitutional and Chicago has a system in place to evaluate offenders’ ability to pay.

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