Public Act 90-0578 of the 90th General Assembly

State of Illinois
Public Acts
90th General Assembly

[ Home ] [ Public Acts ] [ ILCS ] [ Search ] [ Bottom ]


Public Act 90-0578

SB9 Re-enrolled                                LRB9000805RCcd

    AN   ACT   in   relation   to   harassing   and   obscene
communications.

    Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

    Section  5.   The  Criminal  Code  of  1961 is amended by
changing Section 12-7.1 as follows:

    (720 ILCS 5/12-7.1) (from Ch. 38, par. 12-7.1)
    Sec. 12-7.1.  Hate crime.
    (a)  A person commits hate crime when, by reason  of  the
actual  or  perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry,
gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or
national  origin  of   another   individual   or   group   of
individuals, he commits assault, battery, aggravated assault,
misdemeanor    theft,   criminal   trespass   to   residence,
misdemeanor criminal damage to property, criminal trespass to
vehicle, criminal trespass to real property,  mob  action  or
disorderly  conduct  as  these crimes are defined in Sections
12-1, 12-2, 12-3, 16-1, 19-4, 21-1,  21-2,  21-3,  25-1,  and
26-1  of  this Code, respectively, or harassment by telephone
as defined in  Section  1-1  of  the  Harassing  and  Obscene
Communications  Phone  Call  Act against a victim who is: (i)
the  other  individual;  (ii)  a  member  of  the  group   of
individuals;  (iii)  a person who has an association with, is
married to, or has a friendship with the other individual  or
a  member of the group of individuals; or (iv) a relative (by
blood or marriage) of a person described in clause (i), (ii),
or (iii).
    (b)  Hate crime is a Class 4 felony for a  first  offense
and  a Class 2 felony for a second or subsequent offense. Any
order of probation or conditional discharge entered following
a conviction for an offense under this Section shall include,
a condition that the offender  perform  public  or  community
service  of  no  less  than  200  hours  if  that  service is
established in the county where the offender was convicted of
hate crime.  In addition  the  court  may  impose  any  other
condition  of  probation  or conditional discharge under this
Section.
    (c)  Independent  of  any  criminal  prosecution  or  the
result thereof, any person suffering injury to his person  or
damage  to his property as a result of hate crime may bring a
civil action for damages,  injunction  or  other  appropriate
relief. The court may award actual damages, including damages
for  emotional  distress, or punitive damages. A judgment may
include attorney's fees and  costs.   The  parents  or  legal
guardians,  other  than  guardians  appointed pursuant to the
Juvenile Court Act or the Juvenile Court Act of 1987,  of  an
unemancipated  minor  shall  be  liable for the amount of any
judgment for actual damages rendered against such minor under
this subsection (c) in any amount not  exceeding  the  amount
provided under Section 5 of the Parental Responsibility Law.
    (d)  "Sexual    orientation"    means    heterosexuality,
homosexuality, or bisexuality.
(Source: P.A. 88-45; 88-259; 88-659; 89-689, eff. 12-31-96.)

    Section  10.   The  Obscene  Phone Call Act is amended by
changing the title of the Act and Sections  0.01  and  2  and
adding Sections 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 as follows:

    (720 ILCS 135/Act title)
    An  Act  to  prohibit  the use of telephone and telegraph
lines  for  the  sending  of  certain  messages,  to  prevent
harassment  by  the  use  of  telephone  communications   and
electronic  communications,  and  to  provide  a  penalty for
violation of the Act.
    (720 ILCS 135/0.01) (from Ch. 134, par. 16.3h)
    Sec. 0.01.  Short title.  This Act may be  cited  as  the
Harassing and Obscene Communications Phone Call Act.
(Source: P.A. 86-1324.)

    (720 ILCS 135/1-2 new)
    Sec. 1-2.  Harassment through electronic communications.
    (a)  Harassment  through electronic communications is the
use of electronic communication  for  any  of  the  following
purposes:
         (1)  Making  any  comment,  request,  suggestion  or
    proposal which is obscene  with an intent to offend;
         (2)  Interrupting,  with  the  intent to harass, the
    telephone service or the electronic communication service
    of any person;
         (3)  Transmitting to any person, with the intent  to
    harass  and  regardless  of  whether the communication is
    read in its entirety or at all, any  file,  document,  or
    other communication which prevents that person from using
    his or her telephone service or electronic communications
    device;
         (4)  Threatening  injury  to  the  person  or to the
    property  of   the   person   to   whom   an   electronic
    communication  is directed or to any of his or her family
    or household members; or
         (5)  Knowingly     permitting     any     electronic
    communications device to be used for any of the  purposes
    mentioned in this subsection (a).
    (b)  As used in this Act:
         (1)  "Electronic  communication"  means any transfer
    of signs, signals,  writings,  images,  sounds,  data  or
    intelligence  of  any  nature  transmitted in whole or in
    part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric  or
    photo-optical system.
         (2)  "Family  or household member" includes spouses,
    former spouses, parents, children, stepchildren and other
    persons related by blood or by present or prior marriage,
    persons who share or formerly shared a  common  dwelling,
    persons  who have or allegedly share a blood relationship
    through a child, persons who have or have had a dating or
    engagement relationship, and  persons  with  disabilities
    and their personal assistants.  For purposes of this Act,
    neither    a   casual   acquaintanceship   nor   ordinary
    fraternization  between  2  individuals  in  business  or
    social contexts shall be deemed to  constitute  a  dating
    relationship.

    (720 ILCS 135/1-3 new)
    Sec. 1-3.  Evidence inference.  Evidence that a defendant
made  additional  telephone  calls  or  engaged in additional
electronic communications after having been  requested  by  a
named  complainant  or by a family or household member of the
complainant to stop may  be  considered  as  evidence  of  an
intent   to  harass  unless  disproved  by  evidence  to  the
contrary.

    (720 ILCS 135/1-4 new)
    Sec. 1-4.  Psychiatric examination.  The court may  order
any   person   convicted  under  this  Act  to  submit  to  a
psychiatric examination.

    (720 ILCS 135/2) (from Ch. 134, par. 16.5)
    Sec. 2. Sentence.  (a) Except as provided  in  subsection
(b),  a  person who violates any of the provisions of Section
1, or 1-1, or 1-2  of  this  Act  is  guilty  of  a  Class  B
misdemeanor.  Except  as provided in subsection (b), a second
or subsequent A second or third violation of  Section  1,  or
1-1,  or  1-2 of this Act is a Class A misdemeanor, for which
the court shall impose a minimum of 14 days in   jail or,  if
public  or  community service is established in the county in
which the offender was convicted,  240  hours  of  public  or
community   service.    (b)   In   any   of   the   following
circumstances,  a  person who violates Section 1, 1-1, or 1-2
of this Act  shall  be  guilty  of  A  fourth  or  subsequent
violation  of  Section  1  or  1-1  of  this Act is a Class 4
felony:.
    (1)  The person has 3 or more  prior  violations  in  the
last 10 years of harassment by telephone under Section 1-1 of
this  Act, harassment through electronic communications under
Section 1-2 of this Act, or any similar offense of any state;
    (2)  The person has previously violated the harassment by
telephone provisions of  Section  1-1  of  this  Act  or  the
harassment  through  electronic  communications provisions of
Section 1-2 of this Act or committed any similar  offense  in
any  state  with  the same victim or a member of the victim's
family or household;
    (3)  At the time of the offense, the offender  was  under
conditions  of  bail, probation, mandatory supervised release
or was the subject of an order of protection, in this or  any
other  state,  prohibiting  contact  with  the  victim or any
member of the victim's family or household;
    (4)  In  the  course  of  the   offense,   the   offender
threatened  to  kill the victim or any member of the victim's
family or household; or
    (5)  The person has been convicted in the last  10  years
of  a  forcible  felony  as  defined  in  Section  2-8 of the
Criminal Code of 1961.
(Source: P.A. 89-547, eff. 1-1-97.)
    Section 99.  This Act shall take effect on June 1, 1998.

[ Top ]