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Public Act 095-0984
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| SB2855 Enrolled |
LRB095 19679 RLC 46030 b |
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AN ACT concerning criminal law.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Harassing and Obscene Communications Act is |
amended by changing Sections 1-2 and 2 as follows:
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(720 ILCS 135/1-2)
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Sec. 1-2. Harassment through electronic communications.
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(a) Harassment through electronic communications is the |
use of electronic
communication for any of the following |
purposes:
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(1) Making any comment, request, suggestion or |
proposal which is obscene
with an intent to offend;
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(2) Interrupting, with the intent to harass, the |
telephone service or the
electronic communication service |
of any person;
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(3) Transmitting to any person, with the intent to |
harass and regardless
of whether the communication is read |
in its entirety or at all, any file,
document, or other |
communication which prevents that person from using his or
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her telephone service or electronic communications device;
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(3.1) Transmitting an electronic communication or |
knowingly inducing a
person to transmit an electronic |
communication for the purpose of harassing
another person |
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who is under 13 years of age, regardless of whether the |
person
under 13 years of age consents to the harassment, if |
the defendant is at least
16 years of age at the time of |
the commission of the offense;
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(4) Threatening injury to the person or to the property |
of the person to
whom an electronic communication is |
directed or to any of his or her family or
household |
members; or
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(5) Knowingly permitting any electronic communications |
device to be used
for any of the purposes mentioned in this |
subsection (a).
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(a-5) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile |
service providers, and providers of information services, |
including, but not limited to, Internet service providers and |
hosting service providers, are not liable under this Section, |
except for willful and wanton misconduct, by virtue of the |
transmission, storage, or caching of electronic communications |
or messages of others or by virtue of the provision of other |
related telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or |
information services used by others in violation of this |
Section. |
(b) As used in this Act:
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(1) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of |
signs, signals,
writings, images, sounds, data or |
intelligence of any nature transmitted in
whole or in part |
by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or
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photo-optical system.
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(2) "Family or household member" includes spouses, |
former spouses,
parents,
children, stepchildren and other |
persons related by blood or by present or
prior
marriage, |
persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling, |
persons who
have or allegedly share a blood relationship |
through a child, persons who have
or have had a dating or |
engagement relationship, and persons with disabilities
and |
their personal assistants. For purposes of this Act, |
neither a casual
acquaintanceship nor ordinary |
fraternization between 2 individuals in
business or social |
contexts shall be deemed to constitute a dating
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relationship.
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(Source: P.A. 90-578, eff. 6-1-98; 91-878, eff. 1-1-01.)
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(720 ILCS 135/2) (from Ch. 134, par. 16.5)
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Sec. 2. Sentence.
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(a) Except as provided in
subsection (b), a
person who |
violates any of the provisions of
Section 1, 1-1, or 1-2 of |
this Act
is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
Except as provided
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in subsection (b), a second or subsequent
violation of Section |
1, 1-1, or 1-2 of this
Act is a Class A
misdemeanor, for which |
the
court
shall impose a minimum of 14 days in
jail or, if |
public or
community service is established in the county in |
which the offender was
convicted, 240 hours of public or |
community service.
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(b) In any of the following circumstances, a person who |
violates Section 1,
1-1, or
1-2 of this Act shall be guilty of |
a Class 4 felony:
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(1) The person has 3 or more prior violations in the |
last 10 years of
harassment
by
telephone under Section 1-1 |
of this Act, harassment through electronic
communications |
under Section 1-2 of this Act, or any similar offense of |
any
state;
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(2) The person has previously violated the harassment |
by telephone
provisions of Section 1-1 of this Act or the |
harassment through electronic
communications provisions of |
Section 1-2 of this Act or committed any similar
offense in |
any state with the same victim or a member of the victim's |
family or
household;
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(3) At the time of the offense, the offender was under |
conditions of bail,
probation, mandatory supervised |
release or was the subject of an order of
protection, in |
this or any other state, prohibiting contact with the |
victim or
any member of the victim's family or household;
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(4) In the course of the offense, the offender |
threatened to kill the
victim or any member of the victim's |
family or household;
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(5) The person has been convicted in the last 10 years |
of a forcible
felony
as defined in Section 2-8 of the |
Criminal Code of 1961; or
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(6) The person violates paragraph (4.1) of Section 1-1 |