Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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765 ILCS 835/1

    (765 ILCS 835/1) (from Ch. 21, par. 15)
    (Text of Section before amendment by P.A. 103-841)
    Sec. 1.

(a) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and
who willfully and knowingly destroys or damages the remains of a deceased
human being or who desecrates human remains is guilty of a Class 3 felony.

(a-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and who willfully
and knowingly removes any portion of the remains of a deceased human
being from
a burial ground where skeletal remains are buried or from a grave, crypt,
vault, mausoleum, or other repository of human remains is guilty of a Class 4
felony.

(b) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and who willfully
and knowingly:

(1) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a burial

ground where skeletal remains are buried or a grave, crypt, vault, mausoleum, or other repository of human remains;

(2) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a park or

other area clearly designated to preserve and perpetuate the memory of a deceased person or group of persons;

(3) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates plants,

trees, shrubs, or flowers located upon or around a repository for human remains or within a human graveyard or cemetery; or

(4) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a fence,

rail, curb, or other structure of a similar nature intended for the protection or for the ornamentation of any tomb, monument, gravestone, or other structure of like character;

is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor if the amount of the damage is less than
$500, a Class 4
felony if the amount of the damage is at least $500 and less than $10,000, a
Class 3 felony if the amount of the
damage is at least $10,000 and less than $100,000, or a Class 2 felony if the
damage is
$100,000 or more and shall provide
restitution to
the cemetery authority or property owner for the amount of any damage caused.

(b-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and who willfully
and knowingly defaces, vandalizes, injures, or removes a gravestone or other
memorial, monument, or marker commemorating a deceased person or group of
persons,
whether located within or outside of a recognized cemetery, memorial park, or
battlefield is guilty of a Class 4 felony for damaging at least one but no more
than 4
gravestones, a
Class 3 felony for damaging at least 5 but no more than 10 gravestones, or a
Class 2
felony for
damaging more than 10 gravestones and shall provide restitution to the
cemetery authority or property owner for the amount of any damage caused.

(b-7) Any person who acts without proper legal authority
and who willfully and knowingly removes with the intent to
resell a gravestone or other memorial, monument, or marker
commemorating a deceased person or group of persons, whether
located within or outside a recognized cemetery, memorial
park, or battlefield, is guilty of a Class 2 felony.

(c) The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the removal or
unavoidable breakage or injury by a cemetery authority of anything placed
in or upon any portion of its cemetery in violation of any of the rules and
regulations of the cemetery authority, nor to the removal of anything
placed in the cemetery by or with the consent of the cemetery authority
that in the judgment of the cemetery authority has become wrecked,
unsightly, or dilapidated.

(d) If an unemancipated minor is found guilty of violating any of the
provisions of subsection (b) of this Section and is unable to provide
restitution to the cemetery authority or property owner, the parents or
legal guardians of that minor shall provide restitution to the cemetery
authority or property owner for the amount of any damage caused, up to the
total amount allowed under the Parental Responsibility Law.

(d-5) Any person who commits any of the following:
(1) any unauthorized, non-related third party or

person who enters any sheds, crematories, or employee areas;

(2) any non-cemetery personnel who solicits cemetery

mourners or funeral directors on the grounds or in the offices or chapels of a cemetery before, during, or after a burial;

(3) any person who harasses or threatens any employee

of a cemetery on cemetery grounds; or

(4) any unauthorized person who removes, destroys, or

disturbs any cemetery devices or property placed for safety of visitors and cemetery employees;

is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense and of a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent offense.

(e) Any person who shall hunt, shoot
or discharge any gun, pistol or other missile, within the limits of any
cemetery, or shall cause any shot or missile to be discharged into or over
any portion thereof, or shall violate any of the rules made and established
by the board of directors of such cemetery, for the protection or
government thereof, is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.

(f) Any person who knowingly enters or knowingly remains upon the
premises of a public or private cemetery without authorization during hours
that the cemetery is posted as closed to the public is guilty of a Class A
misdemeanor.

(g) All fines
when recovered, shall be paid over by the court or officer receiving the
same to the cemetery authority and be applied, as far as possible in
repairing the injury, if any, caused by such offense.  Provided, nothing
contained in this Act shall deprive such cemetery authority or the owner
of any interment, entombment, or inurnment right or monument from maintaining an action for the recovery of
damages caused by any injury caused by a violation of the provisions of
this Act, or of the rules established by the board of directors of such
cemetery authority. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to
prohibit the discharge of firearms loaded with blank ammunition as part of
any funeral, any memorial observance or any other patriotic or military
ceremony.

(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-863, eff. 3-1-10.)

(Text of Section after amendment by P.A. 103-841)
Sec. 1.

(a) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and who willfully and knowingly destroys or damages the remains of a deceased human being or who desecrates human remains is guilty of a Class 3 felony.

(a-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and who willfully and knowingly removes any portion of the remains of a deceased human being from a burial ground where skeletal remains are buried or from a grave, crypt, vault, mausoleum, or other repository of human remains is guilty of a Class 4 felony.

(b) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and who willfully and knowingly:
(1) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a burial