Public Act 90-0578 of the 90th General Assembly
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.