Full Text of HB2052 97th General Assembly
HB2052 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012 HB2052 Introduced , by Rep. Darlene J. Senger SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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720 ILCS 135/1-2 |
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720 ILCS 135/2 | from Ch. 134, par. 16.5 |
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Amends the Harassing and Obscene Communications Act. Includes additional factors that constitute violations of the Act by harassment through electronic communications. Establishes penalties for these additional offenses.
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| | | CORRECTIONAL BUDGET AND IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
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| | | HB2052 | | LRB097 02969 RLC 42994 b |
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| 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 | | (4.1) Knowingly frightening, intimidating, or causing | 10 | | emotional distress to another person by anonymously making | 11 | | a telephone call or any electronic communication; or making | 12 | | false postings on an Internet website for longer than 24 | 13 | | hours regardless of that information being sent to the | 14 | | victim; | 15 | | (4.2) Knowingly communicating with another person by | 16 | | any electronic means who is, or who purports to be under 18 | 17 | | years of age and in so doing and without good cause | 18 | | recklessly frightening, intimidating, or causing emotional | 19 | | distress to such other person; | 20 | | (4.3) Knowingly making repeated unwanted communication | 21 | | to another person; | 22 | | (4.4) Without good cause engaging in any other act with | 23 | | the purpose of frightening, intimidating, or causing | 24 | | emotional distress to another person, causing such person | 25 | | to be frightened, intimidated, or emotionally distressed, | 26 | | and such person's response to the act is one of a person of |
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| 1 | | average sensibilities considering the age of such person; | 2 | | or
| 3 | | (5) Knowingly permitting any electronic communications | 4 | | device to be used
for any of the purposes mentioned in this | 5 | | subsection (a).
| 6 | | (b) As used in this Act:
| 7 | | (1) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of | 8 | | signs, signals,
writings, images, sounds, data or | 9 | | intelligence of any nature transmitted in
whole or in part | 10 | | by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or
| 11 | | photo-optical system. "Electronic communication" includes | 12 | | transmissions by a computer through the Internet to another | 13 | | computer.
| 14 | | (2) "Family or household member" includes spouses, | 15 | | former spouses,
parents,
children, stepchildren and other | 16 | | persons related by blood or by present or
prior
marriage, | 17 | | persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling, | 18 | | persons who
have or allegedly share a blood relationship | 19 | | through a child, persons who have
or have had a dating or | 20 | | engagement relationship, and persons with disabilities
and | 21 | | their personal assistants. For purposes of this Act, | 22 | | neither a casual
acquaintanceship nor ordinary | 23 | | fraternization between 2 individuals in
business or social | 24 | | contexts shall be deemed to constitute a dating
| 25 | | relationship.
| 26 | | (c) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile service |
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| 1 | | providers, and providers of information services, including, | 2 | | but not limited to, Internet service providers and hosting | 3 | | service providers, are not liable under this Section, except | 4 | | for willful and wanton misconduct, by virtue of the | 5 | | transmission, storage, or caching of electronic communications | 6 | | or messages of others or by virtue of the provision of other | 7 | | related telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or | 8 | | information services used by others in violation of this | 9 | | Section. | 10 | | (d) Paragraphs (4.1), (4.2), (4.3), and (4.4) of subsection | 11 | | (a) of this Section do not apply to activities of federal, | 12 | | state, county, or municipal law enforcement officers | 13 | | conducting investigations of a violation of federal, State, | 14 | | county, or municipal law. | 15 | | (Source: P.A. 95-849, eff. 1-1-09; 95-984, eff. 6-1-09; 96-328, | 16 | | eff. 8-11-09.)
| 17 | | (720 ILCS 135/2) (from Ch. 134, par. 16.5)
| 18 | | Sec. 2. Sentence.
| 19 | | (a) Except as provided in
subsection (b), a
person who | 20 | | violates any of the provisions of
Section 1, 1-1, or 1-2 of | 21 | | this Act
is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
Except as provided
| 22 | | in subsection (b), a second or subsequent
violation of Section | 23 | | 1, 1-1, or 1-2 of this
Act is a Class A
misdemeanor, for which | 24 | | the
court
shall impose a minimum of 14 days in
jail or, if | 25 | | public or
community service is established in the county in |
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| 1 | | which the offender was
convicted, 240 hours of public or | 2 | | community service.
| 3 | | (b) In any of the following circumstances, a person who | 4 | | violates Section 1,
1-1, or
1-2 of this Act shall be guilty of | 5 | | a Class 4 felony:
| 6 | | (1) The person has 3 or more prior violations in the | 7 | | last 10 years of
harassment
by
telephone under Section 1-1 | 8 | | of this Act, harassment through electronic
communications | 9 | | under Section 1-2 of this Act, or any similar offense of | 10 | | any
state;
| 11 | | (2) The person has previously violated the harassment | 12 | | by telephone
provisions of Section 1-1 of this Act or the | 13 | | harassment through electronic
communications provisions of | 14 | | Section 1-2 of this Act or committed any similar
offense in | 15 | | any state with the same victim or a member of the victim's | 16 | | family or
household;
| 17 | | (3) At the time of the offense, the offender was under | 18 | | conditions of bail,
probation, mandatory supervised | 19 | | release or was the subject of an order of
protection, in | 20 | | this or any other state, prohibiting contact with the | 21 | | victim or
any member of the victim's family or household;
| 22 | | (4) In the course of the offense, the offender | 23 | | threatened to kill the
victim or any member of the victim's | 24 | | family or household;
| 25 | | (5) The person has been convicted in the last 10 years | 26 | | of a forcible
felony
as defined in Section 2-8 of the |
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| 1 | | Criminal Code of 1961;
| 2 | | (6) The person violates paragraph (4.1) of Section 1-1 | 3 | | or paragraph
(3.1) of subsection (a) of Section 1-2; or | 4 | | (7) The person was at least 18 years of age at the time | 5 | | of the commission of the offense and the victim was under | 6 | | 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the | 7 | | offense.
| 8 | | (c)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection (c), | 9 | | a person who violates paragraph (4.1), (4.2), (4.3), or (4.4) | 10 | | of subsection (a) of Section 1-2 of this Act is guilty of a | 11 | | Class A misdemeanor. | 12 | | (2) A person who is 21 years of age or over who violates | 13 | | paragraph (4.1), (4.2), (4.3), or (4.4) of subsection (a) of | 14 | | Section 1-2 of this Act in which the victim of the offense, at | 15 | | the time of the commission of the offense, is under 17 years of | 16 | | age is guilty of a Class 4 felony. | 17 | | (3) A person who violates paragraph (4.1), (4.2), (4.3), or | 18 | | (4.4) of subsection (a) of Section 1-2 of this Act who has | 19 | | previously pleaded guilty to or has been found guilty of a | 20 | | violation of paragraph (4.1), (4.2), (4.3), or (4.4) of | 21 | | subsection (a) of Section 1-2 of this Act or of any similar | 22 | | offense committed in violation of any county or municipal | 23 | | ordinance of this State or any other state, any similar state | 24 | | law of another state, or any similar federal law, including a | 25 | | violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, is guilty of | 26 | | a Class 4 felony. |
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| 1 | | (Source: P.A. 95-984, eff. 6-1-09 .)
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