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90_SB0009ren
720 ILCS 5/12-7.1 from Ch. 38, par. 12-7.1
720 ILCS 135/Act title
720 ILCS 135/0.01 from Ch. 134, par. 16.3h
720 ILCS 135/1-2 new
720 ILCS 135/1-3 new
720 ILCS 135/1-4 new
720 ILCS 135/2 from Ch. 134, par. 16.5
720 ILCS 135/3 new
Amends the Obscene Phone Call Act. Changes short title
to the Harassing and Obscene Communications Act. Creates the
offense of harassment through electronic communications.
Provides that the court may order a person convicted under
the Act to submit to psychiatric examination. Requires the
court to impose a minimum of 14 days in jail or 240 hours of
public service employment upon an offender who commits a
second or third violation. Provides that certain violations
are Class 4 felonies. Provides for the seizure and
forfeiture of telephonic or electronic communications
equipment used in the commission of an offense prohibited by
the Act. Amends the Criminal Code of 1961 to change a cross
reference from the Obscene Phone Call Act to the Harassing
and Obscene Communications Act.
LRB9000805RCcd
SB9 Re-enrolled LRB9000805RCcd
1 AN ACT in relation to harassing and obscene
2 communications.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Criminal Code of 1961 is amended by
6 changing Section 12-7.1 as follows:
7 (720 ILCS 5/12-7.1) (from Ch. 38, par. 12-7.1)
8 Sec. 12-7.1. Hate crime.
9 (a) A person commits hate crime when, by reason of the
10 actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry,
11 gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or
12 national origin of another individual or group of
13 individuals, he commits assault, battery, aggravated assault,
14 misdemeanor theft, criminal trespass to residence,
15 misdemeanor criminal damage to property, criminal trespass to
16 vehicle, criminal trespass to real property, mob action or
17 disorderly conduct as these crimes are defined in Sections
18 12-1, 12-2, 12-3, 16-1, 19-4, 21-1, 21-2, 21-3, 25-1, and
19 26-1 of this Code, respectively, or harassment by telephone
20 as defined in Section 1-1 of the Harassing and Obscene
21 Communications Phone Call Act against a victim who is: (i)
22 the other individual; (ii) a member of the group of
23 individuals; (iii) a person who has an association with, is
24 married to, or has a friendship with the other individual or
25 a member of the group of individuals; or (iv) a relative (by
26 blood or marriage) of a person described in clause (i), (ii),
27 or (iii).
28 (b) Hate crime is a Class 4 felony for a first offense
29 and a Class 2 felony for a second or subsequent offense. Any
30 order of probation or conditional discharge entered following
31 a conviction for an offense under this Section shall include,
SB9 Re-enrolled -2- LRB9000805RCcd
1 a condition that the offender perform public or community
2 service of no less than 200 hours if that service is
3 established in the county where the offender was convicted of
4 hate crime. In addition the court may impose any other
5 condition of probation or conditional discharge under this
6 Section.
7 (c) Independent of any criminal prosecution or the
8 result thereof, any person suffering injury to his person or
9 damage to his property as a result of hate crime may bring a
10 civil action for damages, injunction or other appropriate
11 relief. The court may award actual damages, including damages
12 for emotional distress, or punitive damages. A judgment may
13 include attorney's fees and costs. The parents or legal
14 guardians, other than guardians appointed pursuant to the
15 Juvenile Court Act or the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, of an
16 unemancipated minor shall be liable for the amount of any
17 judgment for actual damages rendered against such minor under
18 this subsection (c) in any amount not exceeding the amount
19 provided under Section 5 of the Parental Responsibility Law.
20 (d) "Sexual orientation" means heterosexuality,
21 homosexuality, or bisexuality.
22 (Source: P.A. 88-45; 88-259; 88-659; 89-689, eff. 12-31-96.)
23 Section 10. The Obscene Phone Call Act is amended by
24 changing the title of the Act and Sections 0.01 and 2 and
25 adding Sections 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 as follows:
26 (720 ILCS 135/Act title)
27 An Act to prohibit the use of telephone and telegraph
28 lines for the sending of certain messages, to prevent
29 harassment by the use of telephone communications and
30 electronic communications, and to provide a penalty for
31 violation of the Act.
SB9 Re-enrolled -3- LRB9000805RCcd
1 (720 ILCS 135/0.01) (from Ch. 134, par. 16.3h)
2 Sec. 0.01. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
3 Harassing and Obscene Communications Phone Call Act.
4 (Source: P.A. 86-1324.)
5 (720 ILCS 135/1-2 new)
6 Sec. 1-2. Harassment through electronic communications.
7 (a) Harassment through electronic communications is the
8 use of electronic communication for any of the following
9 purposes:
10 (1) Making any comment, request, suggestion or
11 proposal which is obscene with an intent to offend;
12 (2) Interrupting, with the intent to harass, the
13 telephone service or the electronic communication service
14 of any person;
15 (3) Transmitting to any person, with the intent to
16 harass and regardless of whether the communication is
17 read in its entirety or at all, any file, document, or
18 other communication which prevents that person from using
19 his or her telephone service or electronic communications
20 device;
21 (4) Threatening injury to the person or to the
22 property of the person to whom an electronic
23 communication is directed or to any of his or her family
24 or household members; or
25 (5) Knowingly permitting any electronic
26 communications device to be used for any of the purposes
27 mentioned in this subsection (a).
28 (b) As used in this Act:
29 (1) "Electronic communication" means any transfer
30 of signs, signals, writings, images, sounds, data or
31 intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in
32 part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or
33 photo-optical system.
SB9 Re-enrolled -4- LRB9000805RCcd
1 (2) "Family or household member" includes spouses,
2 former spouses, parents, children, stepchildren and other
3 persons related by blood or by present or prior marriage,
4 persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling,
5 persons who have or allegedly share a blood relationship
6 through a child, persons who have or have had a dating or
7 engagement relationship, and persons with disabilities
8 and their personal assistants. For purposes of this Act,
9 neither a casual acquaintanceship nor ordinary
10 fraternization between 2 individuals in business or
11 social contexts shall be deemed to constitute a dating
12 relationship.
13 (720 ILCS 135/1-3 new)
14 Sec. 1-3. Evidence inference. Evidence that a defendant
15 made additional telephone calls or engaged in additional
16 electronic communications after having been requested by a
17 named complainant or by a family or household member of the
18 complainant to stop may be considered as evidence of an
19 intent to harass unless disproved by evidence to the
20 contrary.
21 (720 ILCS 135/1-4 new)
22 Sec. 1-4. Psychiatric examination. The court may order
23 any person convicted under this Act to submit to a
24 psychiatric examination.
25 (720 ILCS 135/2) (from Ch. 134, par. 16.5)
26 Sec. 2. Sentence. (a) Except as provided in subsection
27 (b), a person who violates any of the provisions of Section
28 1, or 1-1, or 1-2 of this Act is guilty of a Class B
29 misdemeanor. Except as provided in subsection (b), a second
30 or subsequent A second or third violation of Section 1, or
31 1-1, or 1-2 of this Act is a Class A misdemeanor, for which
SB9 Re-enrolled -5- LRB9000805RCcd
1 the court shall impose a minimum of 14 days in jail or, if
2 public or community service is established in the county in
3 which the offender was convicted, 240 hours of public or
4 community service. (b) In any of the following
5 circumstances, a person who violates Section 1, 1-1, or 1-2
6 of this Act shall be guilty of A fourth or subsequent
7 violation of Section 1 or 1-1 of this Act is a Class 4
8 felony:.
9 (1) The person has 3 or more prior violations in the
10 last 10 years of harassment by telephone under Section 1-1 of
11 this Act, harassment through electronic communications under
12 Section 1-2 of this Act, or any similar offense of any state;
13 (2) The person has previously violated the harassment by
14 telephone provisions of Section 1-1 of this Act or the
15 harassment through electronic communications provisions of
16 Section 1-2 of this Act or committed any similar offense in
17 any state with the same victim or a member of the victim's
18 family or household;
19 (3) At the time of the offense, the offender was under
20 conditions of bail, probation, mandatory supervised release
21 or was the subject of an order of protection, in this or any
22 other state, prohibiting contact with the victim or any
23 member of the victim's family or household;
24 (4) In the course of the offense, the offender
25 threatened to kill the victim or any member of the victim's
26 family or household; or
27 (5) The person has been convicted in the last 10 years
28 of a forcible felony as defined in Section 2-8 of the
29 Criminal Code of 1961.
30 (Source: P.A. 89-547, eff. 1-1-97.)
SB9 Re-enrolled -6- LRB9000805RCcd
1 Section 99. This Act shall take effect on June 1, 1998.
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