103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB3534

 

Introduced 2/17/2023, by Rep. Jay Hoffman

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
720 ILCS 5/5-2  from Ch. 38, par. 5-2

    Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that a person is legally accountable for the conduct of another when, acting as an aggressor as provided in the Code, he or she causes another to use force in defense of himself or another and that use of force is the proximate cause of injury to a third party.


LRB103 28376 RLC 54756 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB3534LRB103 28376 RLC 54756 b

1    AN ACT concerning criminal law.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Criminal Code of 2012 is amended by
5changing Section 5-2 as follows:
 
6    (720 ILCS 5/5-2)  (from Ch. 38, par. 5-2)
7    Sec. 5-2. When accountability exists. A person is legally
8accountable for the conduct of another when:
9        (a) having a mental state described by the statute
10    defining the offense, he or she causes another to perform
11    the conduct, and the other person in fact or by reason of
12    legal incapacity lacks such a mental state;
13        (b) the statute defining the offense makes him or her
14    so accountable; or
15        (c) either before or during the commission of an
16    offense, and with the intent to promote or facilitate that
17    commission, he or she solicits, aids, abets, agrees, or
18    attempts to aid that other person in the planning or
19    commission of the offense; or .
20        (d) acting as an aggressor as provided in Section 7-4,
21    he or she causes another to use force in defense of himself
22    or another under Section 7-1 and that use of force is the
23    proximate cause of injury to a third party.

 

 

HB3534- 2 -LRB103 28376 RLC 54756 b

1    When 2 or more persons engage in a common criminal design
2or agreement, any acts in the furtherance of that common
3design committed by one party are considered to be the acts of
4all parties to the common design or agreement and all are
5equally responsible for the consequences of those further
6acts. Mere presence at the scene of a crime does not render a
7person accountable for an offense; a person's presence at the
8scene of a crime, however, may be considered with other
9circumstances by the trier of fact when determining
10accountability.
11    A person is not so accountable, however, unless the
12statute defining the offense provides otherwise, if:
13        (1) he or she is a victim of the offense committed;
14        (2) the offense is so defined that his or her conduct
15    was inevitably incident to its commission; or
16        (3) before the commission of the offense, he or she
17    terminates his or her effort to promote or facilitate that
18    commission and does one of the following: (i) wholly
19    deprives his or her prior efforts of effectiveness in that
20    commission, (ii) gives timely warning to the proper law
21    enforcement authorities, or (iii) otherwise makes proper
22    effort to prevent the commission of the offense.
23(Source: P.A. 96-710, eff. 1-1-10.)