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Public Act 102-0547
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| SB2204 Enrolled | LRB102 16152 KMF 21528 b |
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AN ACT concerning criminal 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 Criminal Code of 2012 is amended by |
changing Section 12-7.3 as follows:
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(720 ILCS 5/12-7.3) (from Ch. 38, par. 12-7.3)
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Sec. 12-7.3. Stalking.
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(a) A person commits stalking when he or she knowingly |
engages in a course of conduct directed at a specific person, |
and he or she knows or should know that this course of conduct |
would cause a reasonable person to: |
(1) fear for his or her safety or the safety of a third |
person; or |
(2) suffer other emotional distress. |
(a-3) A person commits stalking when he or she, knowingly |
and without
lawful justification, on at least 2 separate |
occasions follows
another person
or places the person under |
surveillance or any combination thereof and:
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(1) at any time transmits a threat of immediate or |
future bodily harm, sexual
assault, confinement or |
restraint and the threat is directed towards that
person |
or a family member of that
person; or
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(2) places that person in reasonable apprehension of |
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immediate or future
bodily harm, sexual assault, |
confinement or restraint to or of that person or a family |
member of that person.
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(a-5) A person commits stalking when he or she has |
previously been
convicted of stalking another person and |
knowingly and without lawful
justification on one occasion:
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(1) follows that same person or places that same |
person under
surveillance; and
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(2) transmits a threat of immediate or future bodily |
harm, sexual
assault, confinement or restraint to that |
person or a family member of that person.
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(a-7) A person commits stalking when he or she knowingly |
makes threats that are a part of a course of conduct and is |
aware of the threatening nature of his or her speech. |
(b) Sentence.
Stalking is a Class 4 felony; a second or |
subsequent
conviction is a Class 3 felony.
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(c) Definitions. For purposes of this Section: |
(1) "Course of conduct" means 2 or more acts, |
including but not limited to acts in which a defendant |
directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any |
action, method, device, or means follows, monitors, |
observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or |
about, a person, engages in other non-consensual contact, |
or interferes with or damages a person's property or pet. |
A course of conduct may include contact via electronic |
communications. |
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(2) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of |
signs, signals, writings, sounds, data, or intelligence of |
any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, |
radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric, or photo-optical |
system. "Electronic communication" includes transmissions |
by a computer through the Internet to another computer. |
(3) "Emotional distress" means significant mental |
suffering, anxiety or alarm. |
(4) "Family member" means a parent,
grandparent, |
brother, sister, or child, whether by whole blood, |
half-blood, or
adoption and includes a step-grandparent, |
step-parent, step-brother,
step-sister or step-child. |
"Family member" also means any other person who
regularly |
resides in the household, or who, within the prior 6 |
months,
regularly resided in the household. |
(5) "Follows another person" means (i) to
move in |
relative proximity to a person as that person moves from |
place to place
or (ii) to remain in relative proximity to a |
person who is stationary or whose
movements are confined |
to a small area.
"Follows another person" does not
include |
a following within the residence of the defendant. |
(6) "Non-consensual contact" means any contact with |
the victim that is initiated or continued without the |
victim's consent, including but not limited to being in |
the physical presence of the victim; appearing within the |
sight of the victim; approaching or confronting the victim |
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in a public place or on private property; appearing at the |
workplace or residence of the victim; entering onto or |
remaining on property owned, leased, or occupied by the |
victim; or placing an object on, or delivering an object |
to, property owned, leased, or occupied by the victim. |
(7) "Places a person under
surveillance" means: (1) |
remaining present outside the person's school, place of
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employment, vehicle, other place occupied by the person, |
or residence other
than the residence of the defendant; or |
(2) placing an electronic tracking device on the person or |
the person's property. |
(8) "Reasonable person" means a person in the victim's |
situation. |
(9) "Transmits a threat" means a verbal
or
written |
threat or a threat implied by a pattern of conduct or a |
combination of
verbal or written statements or conduct. |
(d) Exemptions. |
(1) This Section does not apply to any individual or |
organization (i) monitoring or attentive to compliance |
with public or worker safety laws, wage and hour |
requirements, or other statutory requirements, or (ii) |
picketing occurring at the workplace that is otherwise |
lawful and arises out of a bona fide labor dispute, |
including any controversy concerning wages, salaries, |
hours, working conditions or benefits, including health |
and welfare, sick leave, insurance, and pension or |
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retirement provisions, the making or maintaining of |
collective bargaining agreements, and the terms to be |
included in those agreements. |
(2) This Section does not apply to an exercise of the |
right to free speech or assembly that is otherwise lawful. |
(3) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile |
service providers, and providers of information services, |
including, but not limited to, Internet service providers |
and hosting service providers, are not liable under this |
Section, except for willful and wanton misconduct, by |
virtue of the transmission, storage, or caching of |
electronic communications or messages of others or by |
virtue of the provision of other related |
telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or |
information services used by others in violation of this |
Section. |
(d-5) The incarceration of a person in a penal institution |
who commits the course of conduct or transmits a
threat is not |
a bar to prosecution under this Section.
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(d-10) A defendant who directed the actions of a third |
party to violate this Section, under the principles of |
accountability set forth in Article 5 of this Code, is guilty |
of violating this Section as if the same had been personally |
done by the defendant, without regard to the mental state of |
the third party acting at the direction of the defendant. |
(Source: P.A. 96-686, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11; |