Full Text of SB2426 95th General Assembly
SB2426 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008 SB2426
Introduced 2/15/2008, by Sen. Ira I. Silverstein SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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720 ILCS 135/1-2 |
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720 ILCS 135/2 |
from Ch. 134, par. 16.5 |
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Amends the Harassing and Obscene Communications Act. Creates the Cyberbullying Law. Provides that the offense of harassment through electronic communications also includes the use of electronic
communication for making a harassing statement for the purpose of alarming, tormenting, or terrorizing a specific person on at least 2 separate occasions; or creating and maintaining an Internet website or webpage, which is accessible to one or more third parties for a period of at least 24 hours, and which contains harassing statements made for the purpose of alarming, tormenting, or terrorizing a specific person. Establishes penalties. Effective immediately.
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| CORRECTIONAL BUDGET AND IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
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A BILL FOR
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SB2426 |
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LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
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| AN ACT concerning criminal law, which may be referred to as | 2 |
| the Cyberbullying 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 Harassing and Obscene Communications Act is | 6 |
| amended by changing Sections 1-2 and 2 as follows:
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| (720 ILCS 135/1-2)
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| Sec. 1-2. Harassment through electronic communications.
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| (a) Harassment through electronic communications is the | 10 |
| use of electronic
communication for any of the following | 11 |
| purposes:
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| (1) Making any comment, request, suggestion or | 13 |
| proposal which is obscene
with an intent to offend;
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| (2) Interrupting, with the intent to harass, the | 15 |
| telephone service or the
electronic communication service | 16 |
| of any person;
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| (3) Transmitting to any person, with the intent to | 18 |
| harass and regardless
of whether the communication is read | 19 |
| in its entirety or at all, any file,
document, or other | 20 |
| communication which prevents that person from using his or
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| her telephone service or electronic communications device;
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| (3.1) Transmitting an electronic communication or | 23 |
| knowingly inducing a
person to transmit an electronic |
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LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
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| communication for the purpose of harassing
another person | 2 |
| who is under 13 years of age, regardless of whether the | 3 |
| person
under 13 years of age consents to the harassment, if | 4 |
| the defendant is at least
16 years of age at the time of | 5 |
| the commission of the offense;
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| (4) Threatening injury to the person or to the property | 7 |
| of the person to
whom an electronic communication is | 8 |
| directed or to any of his or her family or
household | 9 |
| members; or
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| (5) Knowingly permitting any electronic communications | 11 |
| device to be used
for any of the purposes mentioned in this | 12 |
| subsection (a) ; .
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| (6) Making a harassing statement for the purpose of | 14 |
| alarming, tormenting, or terrorizing a specific person on | 15 |
| at least 2 separate occasions; or | 16 |
| (7) Creating and maintaining an Internet website or | 17 |
| webpage, which is accessible to one or more third parties | 18 |
| for a period of at least 24 hours, and which contains | 19 |
| harassing statements made for the purpose of alarming, | 20 |
| tormenting, or terrorizing a specific person. | 21 |
| (b) As used in this Act:
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| (1) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of | 23 |
| signs, signals,
writings, images, sounds, data or | 24 |
| intelligence of any nature transmitted in
whole or in part | 25 |
| by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or
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| photo-optical system. "Electronic communication" includes |
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LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
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| transmissions by a computer through the Internet to another | 2 |
| computer.
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| (2) "Family or household member" includes spouses, | 4 |
| former spouses,
parents,
children, stepchildren and other | 5 |
| persons related by blood or by present or
prior
marriage, | 6 |
| persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling, | 7 |
| persons who
have or allegedly share a blood relationship | 8 |
| through a child, persons who have
or have had a dating or | 9 |
| engagement relationship, and persons with disabilities
and | 10 |
| their personal assistants. For purposes of this Act, | 11 |
| neither a casual
acquaintanceship nor ordinary | 12 |
| fraternization between 2 individuals in
business or social | 13 |
| contexts shall be deemed to constitute a dating
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| relationship.
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| (3) "Harass" means to engage in a knowing and willful | 16 |
| course of conduct directed at a specific person that | 17 |
| alarms, torments, or terrorizes that person. | 18 |
| (4) "Third party" means any person other than the | 19 |
| person violating paragraph (6) or (7) of subsection (a) and | 20 |
| the specific person who is the focus of the violator's | 21 |
| activities, irrespective of his or her age. | 22 |
| (Source: P.A. 90-578, eff. 6-1-98; 91-878, eff. 1-1-01.)
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| (720 ILCS 135/2) (from Ch. 134, par. 16.5)
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| Sec. 2. Sentence.
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| (a) Except as provided in
subsections subsection (b) and |
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| (c) , a
person who violates any of the provisions of
Section 1, | 2 |
| 1-1, or 1-2 of this Act
is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
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| Except as provided
in subsection (b), a second or subsequent
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| violation of Section 1, 1-1, or 1-2 of this
Act is a Class A
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| misdemeanor, for which the
court
shall impose a minimum of 14 | 6 |
| days in
jail or, if public or
community service is established | 7 |
| in the county in which the offender was
convicted, 240 hours of | 8 |
| public or community service.
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| (b) In any of the following circumstances, a person who | 10 |
| violates Section 1,
1-1, or
1-2 of this Act shall be guilty of | 11 |
| a Class 4 felony:
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| (1) The person has 3 or more prior violations in the | 13 |
| last 10 years of
harassment
by
telephone under Section 1-1 | 14 |
| of this Act, harassment through electronic
communications | 15 |
| under Section 1-2 of this Act, or any similar offense of | 16 |
| any
state;
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| (2) The person has previously violated the harassment | 18 |
| by telephone
provisions of Section 1-1 of this Act or the | 19 |
| harassment through electronic
communications provisions of | 20 |
| Section 1-2 of this Act or committed any similar
offense in | 21 |
| any state with the same victim or a member of the victim's | 22 |
| family or
household;
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| (3) At the time of the offense, the offender was under | 24 |
| conditions of bail,
probation, mandatory supervised | 25 |
| release or was the subject of an order of
protection, in | 26 |
| this or any other state, prohibiting contact with the |
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| victim or
any member of the victim's family or household;
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| (4) In the course of the offense, the offender | 3 |
| threatened to kill the
victim or any member of the victim's | 4 |
| family or household;
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| (5) The person has been convicted in the last 10 years | 6 |
| of a forcible
felony
as defined in Section 2-8 of the | 7 |
| Criminal Code of 1961; or
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| (6) The person violates paragraph (4.1) of Section 1-1 | 9 |
| or paragraph
(3.1) of subsection (a) of Section 1-2.
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| (c) A person who violates paragraph (6) or (7) of | 11 |
| subsection (a) of Section 1-2 is guilty of a Class A | 12 |
| misdemeanor, unless the offense is committed by an individual | 13 |
| 21 years of age or older against a person under 18 years of | 14 |
| age, in which case a violation of paragraph (6) or (7) of | 15 |
| subsection (a) of Section 1-2 is a Class 4 felony. A second or | 16 |
| subsequent conviction for a violation of paragraph (6) or (7) | 17 |
| of subsection (a) of Section 1-2 is a Class 4 felony, unless | 18 |
| the offense is committed by an individual 21 years of age or | 19 |
| older against a person under 18 years of age, in which case a | 20 |
| violation of paragraph (6) or (7) of subsection (a) of Section | 21 |
| 1-2 is a Class 3 felony. | 22 |
| (Source: P.A. 90-578, eff. 6-1-98; 91-878, eff. 1-1-01.)
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 24 |
| becoming law.
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