Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SB2855
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Full Text of SB2855  95th General Assembly

SB2855enr 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY



 


 
SB2855 Enrolled LRB095 19679 RLC 46030 b

1     AN ACT concerning criminal law.
 
2     Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
 
4     Section 5. The Harassing and Obscene Communications Act is
5 amended by changing Sections 1-2 and 2 as follows:
 
6     (720 ILCS 135/1-2)
7     Sec. 1-2. Harassment through electronic communications.
8     (a) Harassment through electronic communications is the
9 use of electronic communication for any of the following
10 purposes:
11         (1) Making any comment, request, suggestion or
12     proposal which is obscene with an intent to offend;
13         (2) Interrupting, with the intent to harass, the
14     telephone service or the electronic communication service
15     of any person;
16         (3) Transmitting to any person, with the intent to
17     harass and regardless of whether the communication is read
18     in its entirety or at all, any file, document, or other
19     communication which prevents that person from using his or
20     her telephone service or electronic communications device;
21         (3.1) Transmitting an electronic communication or
22     knowingly inducing a person to transmit an electronic
23     communication for the purpose of harassing another person

 

 

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1     who is under 13 years of age, regardless of whether the
2     person under 13 years of age consents to the harassment, if
3     the defendant is at least 16 years of age at the time of
4     the commission of the offense;
5         (4) Threatening injury to the person or to the property
6     of the person to whom an electronic communication is
7     directed or to any of his or her family or household
8     members; or
9         (5) Knowingly permitting any electronic communications
10     device to be used for any of the purposes mentioned in this
11     subsection (a).
12     (a-5) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile
13 service providers, and providers of information services,
14 including, but not limited to, Internet service providers and
15 hosting service providers, are not liable under this Section,
16 except for willful and wanton misconduct, by virtue of the
17 transmission, storage, or caching of electronic communications
18 or messages of others or by virtue of the provision of other
19 related telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or
20 information services used by others in violation of this
21 Section.
22     (b) As used in this Act:
23         (1) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of
24     signs, signals, writings, images, sounds, data or
25     intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part
26     by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or

 

 

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1     photo-optical system.
2         (2) "Family or household member" includes spouses,
3     former spouses, parents, children, stepchildren and other
4     persons related by blood or by present or prior marriage,
5     persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling,
6     persons who have or allegedly share a blood relationship
7     through a child, persons who have or have had a dating or
8     engagement relationship, and persons with disabilities and
9     their personal assistants. For purposes of this Act,
10     neither a casual acquaintanceship nor ordinary
11     fraternization between 2 individuals in business or social
12     contexts shall be deemed to constitute a dating
13     relationship.
14 (Source: P.A. 90-578, eff. 6-1-98; 91-878, eff. 1-1-01.)
 
15     (720 ILCS 135/2)  (from Ch. 134, par. 16.5)
16     Sec. 2. Sentence.
17     (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a person who
18 violates any of the provisions of Section 1, 1-1, or 1-2 of
19 this Act is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. Except as provided
20 in subsection (b), a second or subsequent violation of Section
21 1, 1-1, or 1-2 of this Act is a Class A misdemeanor, for which
22 the court shall impose a minimum of 14 days in jail or, if
23 public or community service is established in the county in
24 which the offender was convicted, 240 hours of public or
25 community service.

 

 

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1     (b) In any of the following circumstances, a person who
2 violates Section 1, 1-1, or 1-2 of this Act shall be guilty of
3 a Class 4 felony:
4         (1) The person has 3 or more prior violations in the
5     last 10 years of harassment by telephone under Section 1-1
6     of this Act, harassment through electronic communications
7     under Section 1-2 of this Act, or any similar offense of
8     any state;
9         (2) The person has previously violated the harassment
10     by telephone provisions of Section 1-1 of this Act or the
11     harassment through electronic communications provisions of
12     Section 1-2 of this Act or committed any similar offense in
13     any state with the same victim or a member of the victim's
14     family or household;
15         (3) At the time of the offense, the offender was under
16     conditions of bail, probation, mandatory supervised
17     release or was the subject of an order of protection, in
18     this or any other state, prohibiting contact with the
19     victim or any member of the victim's family or household;
20         (4) In the course of the offense, the offender
21     threatened to kill the victim or any member of the victim's
22     family or household;
23         (5) The person has been convicted in the last 10 years
24     of a forcible felony as defined in Section 2-8 of the
25     Criminal Code of 1961; or
26         (6) The person violates paragraph (4.1) of Section 1-1

 

 

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1     or paragraph (3.1) of subsection (a) of Section 1-2; or
2         (7) The person was at least 18 years of age at the time
3     of the commission of the offense and the victim was under
4     18 years of age at the time of the commission of the
5     offense.
6 (Source: P.A. 90-578, eff. 6-1-98; 91-878, eff. 1-1-01.)