Full Text of HB5976 96th General Assembly
HB5976enr 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning civil 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 Code of Civil Procedure is amended by | 5 |
| changing Section 8-802.1 as follows:
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| (735 ILCS 5/8-802.1) (from Ch. 110, par. 8-802.1)
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| Sec. 8-802.1. Confidentiality of Statements Made to Rape | 8 |
| Crisis Personnel.
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| (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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| counseling, but may lack the psychological support necessary to | 21 |
| report the
crime and aid police in preventing future crimes.
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| (b) Definitions. As used in this Act:
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| (1) "Rape crisis organization" means any organization |
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| 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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| (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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| (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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| 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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| (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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| 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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| (c) Waiver of privilege.
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| (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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| 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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| (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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| (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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| has an interest adverse to the victim.
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| (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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| 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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| (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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| (e) A rape crisis counselor may disclose a confidential |
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| 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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| 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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| (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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| (Source: P.A. 88-33; 89-428, eff. 12-13-95; 89-462, eff. | 16 |
| 5-29-96.)
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