HB4578 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 17777 RLC 31209 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB4578

Introduced 2/3/2026, by Rep. Michelle Mussman

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

See Index

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that a second or subsequent violation of endangering the life or health of a child or a similar statute of this State or any other state of an offense that is substantially equivalent to the offense of endangering the life or health of a child is a Class 3 felony. Provides that in addition to any other penalty provided by law, upon conviction for endangering the life or health of a child, the court may order the convicted person to undergo a psychological or psychiatric evaluation and to undergo any treatment at the convicted person's expense that the court determines to be appropriate after due consideration of the evaluation. Provides that the special probation provisions are not applicable to a person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of endangering the life or health of a child or child abandonment or similar statutes of other states. Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Provides that in a prosecution for a physical or sexual act perpetrated upon or against a youth who is a victim of trafficking in persons, involuntary servitude, and related offenses, provides for the admission of certain evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule. Amends the Bill of Rights for Children. Provides that a child reported to the Department of Children and Family Services or law enforcement to be a victim of a physical act or a youth who is a victim of trafficking in persons, involuntary servitude, and related offenses, whose case is accepted by either agency for investigation has the right to have that child's forensic interview conducted by a forensic interviewer from a children's advocacy center accredited according to the Children's Advocacy Center Act and serving the child's area or jurisdiction where the incident occurred, when such service is accessible based on the children's advocacy center's available resources. Amends the Privacy of Child Victims of Criminal Sexual Offenses Act. In a prosecution or investigation of sexual abuse against children under 18 years of age, permits disclosure to a multidisciplinary team member, as defined in the Children's Advocacy Center Act, and to a nonoffending parent or guardian of the identity of any child who is a victim of such criminal sexual offense or alleged criminal sexual offense. Defines "child" and "youth".

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning criminal law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Criminal Code of 2012 is amended by changing Sections 12C-5 and 12C-15 as follows:

(720 ILCS 5/12C-5) (was 720 ILCS 5/12-21.6)

Sec. 12C-5. Endangering the life or health of a child.

(a) A person commits endangering the life or health of a child when he or she knowingly: (1) causes or permits the life or health of a child under the age of 18 to be endangered; or (2) causes or permits a child to be placed in circumstances that endanger the child's life or health. It is not a violation of this Section for a person to relinquish a child in accordance with the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act.

(b) A trier of fact may infer that a child 6 years of age or younger is unattended if that child is left in a motor vehicle for more than 10 minutes.

(c) "Unattended" means either: (i) not accompanied by a person 14 years of age or older; or (ii) if accompanied by a person 14 years of age or older, out of sight of that person.

(d) Sentence. A violation of this Section is a Class A misdemeanor. A second or subsequent violation of this Section or a similar statute of this State or any other state of an offense that is substantially equivalent to the offense of endangering the life or health of a child is a Class 3 felony. In addition to any other penalty provided by law, upon conviction for violating subsection (a) of this Section, the court may order the convicted person to undergo a psychological or psychiatric evaluation and to undergo any treatment at the convicted person's expense that the court determines to be appropriate after due consideration of the evaluation. A violation of this Section that is a proximate cause of the death of the child is a Class 3 felony for which a person, if sentenced to a term of imprisonment, shall be sentenced to a term of not less than 2 years and not more than 10 years. A parent, who is found to be in violation of this Section with respect to his or her child, may be sentenced to probation for this offense pursuant to Section 12C-15.

(Source: P.A. 97-1109, eff. 1-1-13.)

(720 ILCS 5/12C-15) (was 720 ILCS 5/12-22)

Sec. 12C-15. Child abandonment or endangerment; probation.

(a) Whenever a parent of a child as determined by the court on the facts before it, pleads guilty to or is found guilty of, with respect to his or her child, child abandonment under Section 12C-10 of this Article or endangering the life or health of a child under Section 12C-5 of this Article, the court may, without entering a judgment of guilt and with the consent of the person, defer further proceedings and place the person upon probation upon the reasonable terms and conditions as the court may require. At least one term of the probation shall require the person to cooperate with the Department of Children and Family Services at the times and in the programs that the Department of Children and Family Services may require.

(b) Upon fulfillment of the terms and conditions imposed under subsection (a), the court shall discharge the person and dismiss the proceedings. Discharge and dismissal under this Section shall be without court adjudication of guilt and shall not be considered a conviction for purposes of disqualification or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime. However, a record of the disposition shall be reported by the clerk of the circuit court to the Illinois State Police under Section 2.1 of the Criminal Identification Act, and the record shall be maintained and provided to any civil authority in connection with a determination of whether the person is an acceptable candidate for the care, custody and supervision of children.

(c) Discharge and dismissal under this Section may occur only once.

(d) Probation under this Section may not be for a period of less than 2 years.

(e) If the child dies of the injuries alleged, this Section shall be inapplicable.

(f) This Section is inapplicable to a second or subsequent violation of this Section or a similar statute of this State or any other state of an offense that is substantially equivalent to the offense of endangering the life or health of a child.

(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21.)

Section 10. The Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 is amended by changing Section 115-10 as follows:

(725 ILCS 5/115-10) (from Ch. 38, par. 115-10)

Sec. 115-10. Certain hearsay exceptions.

(a) In a prosecution for a physical or sexual act perpetrated upon or against a child or youth who is a victim of trafficking in persons, involuntary servitude, and related offenses under the age of 13, a person with an intellectual disability, a person with a cognitive impairment, or a person with a developmental disability, including, but not limited to, prosecutions for violations of Sections 11-1.20 through 11-1.60 or 12-13 through 12-16 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012 and prosecutions for violations of Sections 10-1 (kidnapping), 10-2 (aggravated kidnapping), 10-3 (unlawful restraint), 10-3.1 (aggravated unlawful restraint), 10-4 (forcible detention), 10-5 (child abduction), 10-6 (harboring a runaway), 10-7 (aiding or abetting child abduction), 10-9 (trafficking in persons, involuntary servitude, and related offenses), 11-9 (public indecency), 11-11 (sexual relations within families), 11-21 (harmful material), 12-1 (assault), 12-2 (aggravated assault), 12-3 (battery), 12-3.2 (domestic battery), 12-3.3 (aggravated domestic battery), 12-3.05 or 12-4 (aggravated battery), 12-4.1 (heinous battery), 12-4.2 (aggravated battery with a firearm), 12-4.3 (aggravated battery of a child), 12-4.7 (drug induced infliction of great bodily harm), 12-5 (reckless conduct), 12-6 (intimidation), 12-6.1 or 12-6.5 (compelling organization membership of persons), 12-7.1 (hate crime), 12-7.3 (stalking), 12-7.4 (aggravated stalking), 12-10 or 12C-35 (tattooing the body of a minor), 12-11 or 19-6 (home invasion), 12-21.5 or 12C-10 (child abandonment), 12-21.6 or 12C-5 (endangering the life or health of a child) or 12-32 (ritual mutilation) of the Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012 or any sex offense as defined in subsection (B) of Section 2 of the Sex Offender Registration Act, the following evidence shall be admitted as an exception to the hearsay rule:

(1) testimony by the victim or qualified witness of an out of court statement made by that person the victim that he or she complained of a qualified such act to another; and

(2) testimony of an out of court statement made by the victim or qualified witness describing any complaint of such act or matter or detail pertaining to any act which is an element of an offense which is the subject of a prosecution for a sexual or physical act against the that victim.

(b) Such testimony shall only be admitted if:

(1) The court finds in a hearing conducted outside the presence of the jury that the time, content, and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient safeguards of reliability; and

(2) The victim or qualified witness child or person with an intellectual disability, a cognitive impairment, or developmental disability either:

(A) testifies at the proceeding; or

(B) is unavailable as a witness and there is corroborative evidence of the act which is the subject of the statement; and

(3) In a case in which the victim or qualified witness is involving an offense perpetrated against a child under the age of 18 13, where the out of court statement was made before the victim attained 18 13 years of age or within 3 months after the commission of the offense, whichever occurs later, such but the statement may be admitted regardless of the age of the victim or qualified witness at the time of the proceeding.

(c) If a statement is admitted pursuant to this Section, the court shall instruct the jury that it is for the jury to determine the weight and credibility to be given the statement and that, in making the determination, it shall consider the age and maturity of the child, or the intellectual capabilities of the person with an intellectual disability, a cognitive impairment, or developmental disability, the nature of the statement, the circumstances under which the statement was made, and any other relevant factor.

(d) The proponent of the statement shall give the adverse party reasonable notice of his intention to offer the statement and the particulars of the statement.

(e) Statements described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) shall not be excluded on the basis that they were obtained as a result of interviews conducted pursuant to a protocol adopted by a Child Advocacy Advisory Board as set forth in subsections (c), (d), and (e) of Section 3 of the Children's Advocacy Center Act or that an interviewer or witness to the interview was or is an employee, agent, or investigator of a State's Attorney's office.

(f) For the purposes of this Section:

"Child" means a person under 18 years of age.

"Youth" means a victim of trafficking in persons, involuntary servitude, and related offenses.

"Qualified act" means an act of the defendant, or one for whose conduct the defendant is legally responsible, deemed admissible by the court under Illinois Rules of Evidence 404(b) or 413, or both, or under any of Sections 115-7.3, 115-7.4, or 115-20 of this Code, or a combination of any of these Sections.

"Qualified witness" means a witness who is a child under 18 years of age, a person with an intellectual disability, a person with a cognitive impairment, or a person with a developmental disability.

"Person with a cognitive impairment" means a person with a significant impairment of cognition or memory that represents a marked deterioration from a previous level of function. Cognitive impairment includes, but is not limited to, dementia, amnesia, delirium, or a traumatic brain injury.

"Person with a developmental disability" means a person with a disability that is attributable to (1) an intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, or autism, or (2) any other condition that results in an impairment similar to that caused by an intellectual disability and requires services similar to those required by a person with an intellectual disability.

"Person with an intellectual disability" means a person with significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning which exists concurrently with an impairment in adaptive behavior.

(Source: P.A. 104-159, eff. 1-1-26.)

Section 15. The Bill of Rights for Children is amended by changing Section 3.5 as follows:

(725 ILCS 115/3.5)

Sec. 3.5. Right to forensic interview with children's advocacy center. Every child reported to the Department of Children and Family Services or law enforcement to be a victim of sexual assault or sexual abuse, a physical act, or youth who is a victim of trafficking in persons, involuntary servitude, and related offenses, whose case is accepted by either agency for investigation has the right to have that child's forensic interview conducted by a forensic interviewer from a children's advocacy center accredited according to the Children's Advocacy Center Act and serving the child's area or jurisdiction where the incident(s) occurred, when such service is accessible based on the CAC's available resources. Notice of the right to a forensic interview and the trauma-informed services provided by a children's advocacy center must be given by the investigative personnel and This right may be asserted by the child or the child's parent or guardian informing the investigating personnel at the Department of Children and Family Services or the law enforcement agency that the parent or guardian wants the child to have the child's interview conducted by the children's advocacy center. Each local CAC protocol will outline a process to address situations in which it is deemed not possible for a forensic interview to occur, to ensure a trauma-informed response with follow up services from the CAC. In this Section:

"Child" or "children" means a person or persons under 18 years of age.

"Youth" means persons at least 18 years of age and under 24 years of age.

(Source: P.A. 102-477, eff. 1-1-22.)

Section 20. The Privacy of Child Victims of Criminal Sexual Offenses Act is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:

(725 ILCS 190/3) (from Ch. 38, par. 1453)

Sec. 3. Confidentiality of law enforcement and court records. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, inspection and copying of law enforcement records maintained by any law enforcement agency or all circuit court records maintained by any circuit clerk relating to any investigation or proceeding pertaining to a criminal sexual offense, by any person, except a judge, state's attorney, assistant state's attorney, Attorney General, Assistant Attorney General, psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, doctor, nonoffending parent or guardian, parole agent, aftercare specialist, probation officer, multidisciplinary team member (MDT) (as defined in the Children's Advocacy Center Act), defendant, defendant's attorney, advocate, or victim's attorney (as defined in Section 3 of the Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act) in any criminal proceeding or investigation related thereto, shall be restricted to exclude the identity of any child who is a victim of such criminal sexual offense or alleged criminal sexual offense unless a court order is issued authorizing the removal of such restriction as provided under this Section of a particular case record or particular records of cases maintained by any circuit court clerk. A court may, for the child's protection and for good cause shown, prohibit any person or agency present in court from further disclosing the child's identity.

A court may prohibit such disclosure only after giving notice and a hearing to all affected parties. In determining whether to prohibit disclosure of the minor's identity, the court shall consider:

(1) the best interest of the child; and

(2) whether such nondisclosure would further a compelling State interest.

When a criminal sexual offense is committed or alleged to have been committed by a school district employee or any individual contractually employed by a school district, a copy of the criminal history record information relating to the investigation of the offense or alleged offense shall be transmitted to the superintendent of schools of the district immediately upon request or if the law enforcement agency knows that a school district employee or any individual contractually employed by a school district has committed or is alleged to have committed a criminal sexual offense, the superintendent of schools of the district shall be immediately provided a copy of the criminal history record information. The copy of the criminal history record information to be provided under this Section shall exclude the identity of the child victim. The superintendent shall be restricted from revealing the identity of the victim. Nothing in this Article precludes or may be used to preclude a mandated reporter from reporting child abuse or child neglect as required under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.

For the purposes of this Act, "criminal history record information" means:

(i) chronologically maintained arrest information, such as traditional arrest logs or blotters;

(ii) the name of a person in the custody of a law enforcement agency and the charges for which that person is being held;

(iii) court records that are public, as defined in paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Section 5 of the Court Record and Document Accessibility Act;

(iv) records that are otherwise available under State or local law; or

(v) records in which the requesting party is the individual identified, except as provided under part (vii) of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of Section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act.

(Source: P.A. 102-651, eff. 1-1-22; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22; 103-166, eff. 1-1-24.)