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1 | AN ACT concerning civil law.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by | ||||||
5 | changing Section 8-802.1 as follows:
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6 | (735 ILCS 5/8-802.1) (from Ch. 110, par. 8-802.1)
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7 | Sec. 8-802.1. Confidentiality of Statements Made to Rape | ||||||
8 | Crisis Personnel.
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9 | (a) Purpose. This Section is intended to protect victims of | ||||||
10 | rape from
public
disclosure of statements they make in | ||||||
11 | confidence to counselors of organizations
established to help | ||||||
12 | them. On or after July 1, 1984, "rape" means an act of
forced | ||||||
13 | sexual penetration or sexual conduct, as defined in Section | ||||||
14 | 12-12 of
the Criminal Code of 1961, as amended, including acts | ||||||
15 | prohibited under
Sections 12-13 through 12-16 of the Criminal | ||||||
16 | Code of 1961, as amended.
Because of the fear and stigma that | ||||||
17 | often results from those crimes, many
victims hesitate to seek | ||||||
18 | help even where it is available at no cost to them.
As a result | ||||||
19 | they not only fail to receive needed medical care and emergency
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20 | counseling, but may lack the psychological support necessary to | ||||||
21 | report the
crime and aid police in preventing future crimes.
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22 | (b) Definitions. As used in this Act:
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23 | (1) "Rape crisis organization" means any organization |
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1 | or association the
major purpose of which is providing | ||||||
2 | information, counseling, and psychological
support to | ||||||
3 | victims of any or all of the crimes of aggravated criminal | ||||||
4 | sexual
assault, predatory criminal sexual assault of a | ||||||
5 | child, criminal sexual
assault, sexual relations between | ||||||
6 | siblings, criminal
sexual abuse and aggravated criminal | ||||||
7 | sexual abuse.
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8 | (2) "Rape crisis counselor" means a person who is a | ||||||
9 | psychologist,
social worker, employee, or volunteer in any | ||||||
10 | organization or association
defined as a rape crisis | ||||||
11 | organization under this Section, who has undergone 40
hours | ||||||
12 | of training and is under the control of a direct services | ||||||
13 | supervisor of a
rape crisis organization.
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14 | (3) "Victim" means a person who is the subject of, or | ||||||
15 | who seeks
information, counseling, or advocacy services as | ||||||
16 | a result of an aggravated
criminal sexual assault, | ||||||
17 | predatory criminal sexual assault of a child,
criminal | ||||||
18 | sexual assault, sexual relations within
families, criminal | ||||||
19 | sexual abuse, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, sexual
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20 | exploitation of a child, indecent solicitation of a child, | ||||||
21 | public indecency,
exploitation of a child, or an attempt to | ||||||
22 | commit any of these offenses.
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23 | (4) "Confidential communication" means any | ||||||
24 | communication between a
victim and a rape crisis counselor | ||||||
25 | in the course of providing information,
counseling, and | ||||||
26 | advocacy. The term includes all records kept by the |
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1 | counselor
or by the organization in the course of providing | ||||||
2 | services to an alleged victim
concerning the alleged victim | ||||||
3 | and the services provided.
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4 | (c) Waiver of privilege.
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5 | (1) The confidential nature of the communication is not | ||||||
6 | waived by: the
presence of a third person who further | ||||||
7 | expresses the interests of the victim at
the time of the | ||||||
8 | communication; group counseling; or disclosure to a third
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9 | person with the consent of the victim when reasonably | ||||||
10 | necessary to accomplish
the purpose for which the counselor | ||||||
11 | is consulted.
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12 | (2) The confidential nature of counseling records is | ||||||
13 | not waived when:
the victim inspects the records; or in the | ||||||
14 | case of a minor child less than
12 years of age, a parent | ||||||
15 | or guardian whose interests are not adverse to
the minor | ||||||
16 | inspects the records; or in the case of a minor victim 12 | ||||||
17 | years
or older, a parent or guardian whose interests are | ||||||
18 | not adverse to the minor
inspects the records with the | ||||||
19 | victim's consent , or in the case of an adult who has a | ||||||
20 | guardian of his or her person, the guardian inspects the | ||||||
21 | records with the victim's consent .
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22 | (3) When a victim is deceased , or has been adjudged | ||||||
23 | incompetent by a
court of competent jurisdiction, the | ||||||
24 | victim's guardian or the executor
or administrator of the | ||||||
25 | victim's estate may waive the privilege
established by this | ||||||
26 | Section, unless the guardian, executor , or
administrator |
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1 | has an interest adverse to the victim.
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2 | (4) A minor victim 12 years of age or older may | ||||||
3 | knowingly waive the
privilege established in this Section. | ||||||
4 | When a minor is, in the opinion of
the Court, incapable of | ||||||
5 | knowingly waiving the privilege, the parent or
guardian of | ||||||
6 | the minor may waive the privilege on behalf of the minor,
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7 | unless the parent or guardian has been charged with a | ||||||
8 | violent crime against
the victim or otherwise has any | ||||||
9 | interest adverse to that of the minor with
respect to the | ||||||
10 | waiver of the privilege.
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11 | (5) An adult victim who has a guardian of his or her | ||||||
12 | person may knowingly waive the privilege established in | ||||||
13 | this Section. When the victim is, in the opinion of the | ||||||
14 | court, incapable of knowingly waiving the privilege, the | ||||||
15 | guardian of the adult victim may waive the privilege on | ||||||
16 | behalf of the victim, unless the guardian has been charged | ||||||
17 | with a violent crime against the victim or otherwise has | ||||||
18 | any interest adverse to the victim with respect to the | ||||||
19 | privilege. | ||||||
20 | (d) Confidentiality. Except as provided in this Act, no | ||||||
21 | rape crisis
counselor shall disclose any confidential | ||||||
22 | communication or be examined as a
witness in any civil or | ||||||
23 | criminal proceeding as to any confidential
communication | ||||||
24 | without the written consent of the victim or a representative | ||||||
25 | of
the victim as provided in subparagraph (c).
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26 | (e) A rape crisis counselor may disclose a confidential |
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1 | communication
without the consent of the victim if failure to | ||||||
2 | disclose is likely to
result in a clear, imminent risk of | ||||||
3 | serious physical injury or death of the
victim or another | ||||||
4 | person. Any rape crisis counselor or rape crisis
organization | ||||||
5 | participating in good faith in the disclosing of records and
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6 | communications under this Act shall have immunity from any | ||||||
7 | liability,
civil, criminal, or otherwise that might result from | ||||||
8 | the action.
In any proceeding, civil or criminal, arising out | ||||||
9 | of a disclosure under
this Section, the good faith of any rape | ||||||
10 | crisis counselor
or rape crisis organization who disclosed the | ||||||
11 | confidential communication
shall be presumed.
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12 | (f) Any rape crisis counselor who knowingly discloses any | ||||||
13 | confidential
communication in violation of this Act commits a | ||||||
14 | Class C misdemeanor.
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15 | (Source: P.A. 88-33; 89-428, eff. 12-13-95; 89-462, eff. | ||||||
16 | 5-29-96.)
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