Full Text of HB5320 96th General Assembly
HB5320 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010 HB5320
Introduced 2/5/2010, by Rep. Darlene J. Senger SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
|
720 ILCS 135/1-2 |
|
720 ILCS 135/2 |
from Ch. 134, par. 16.5 |
|
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.
|
| |
|
|
| CORRECTIONAL BUDGET AND IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
|
|
A BILL FOR
|
|
|
|
|
HB5320 |
|
LRB096 17160 RLC 32492 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 |
|
|
|
HB5320 |
- 2 - |
LRB096 17160 RLC 32492 b |
|
| 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 |
|
|
|
HB5320 |
- 3 - |
LRB096 17160 RLC 32492 b |
|
| 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 |
|
|
|
HB5320 |
- 4 - |
LRB096 17160 RLC 32492 b |
|
| 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 |
|
|
|
HB5320 |
- 5 - |
LRB096 17160 RLC 32492 b |
|
| 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 |
|
|
|
HB5320 |
- 6 - |
LRB096 17160 RLC 32492 b |
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
HB5320 |
- 7 - |
LRB096 17160 RLC 32492 b |
|
| 1 |
| (Source: P.A. 95-984, eff. 6-1-09 .)
|
|