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Public Act 094-0608
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| SB1210 Enrolled |
LRB094 04866 LCB 34895 b |
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AN ACT concerning civil law.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Cemetery Protection Act is amended by |
changing Section 1 as follows:
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(765 ILCS 835/1) (from Ch. 21, par. 15)
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Sec. 1. (a) Any person who acts without proper legal |
authority and
who willfully and knowingly destroys or damages |
the remains of a deceased
human being or who desecrates human |
remains is guilty of a Class 3 felony.
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(a-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority |
and who willfully
and knowingly removes any portion of the |
remains of a deceased human
being from
a burial ground where |
skeletal remains are buried or from a grave, crypt,
vault, |
mausoleum, or other repository of human remains is guilty of a |
Class 4
felony.
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(b) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and |
who willfully
and knowingly:
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(1) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a burial |
ground where
skeletal remains are buried or a grave, crypt, |
vault, mausoleum, or other
repository of human remains;
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(2) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a park or |
other
area
clearly designated to preserve and perpetuate |
the memory of a deceased
person or group of persons;
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(3) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates plants, |
trees,
shrubs, or
flowers located upon or around a |
repository for human remains or within a
human graveyard or |
cemetery; or
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(4) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a fence, |
rail,
curb, or
other structure of a similar nature intended |
for the protection or for the
ornamentation of any tomb, |
monument, gravestone, or other structure of
like |
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character;
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is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor if the amount of the damage |
is less than
$500, a Class 4
felony if the amount of the damage |
is at least $500 and less than $10,000, a
Class 3 felony if the |
amount of the
damage is at least $10,000 and less than |
$100,000, or a Class 2 felony if the
damage is
$100,000 or more |
and shall provide
restitution to
the cemetery authority or |
property owner for the amount of any damage caused.
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(b-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority |
and who willfully
and knowingly defaces, vandalizes, injures, |
or removes a gravestone or other
memorial, monument, or marker |
commemorating a deceased person or group of
persons,
whether |
located within or outside of a recognized cemetery, memorial |
park, or
battlefield is guilty of a Class 4 felony for damaging |
at least one but no more
than 4
gravestones, a
Class 3 felony |
for damaging at least 5 but no more than 10 gravestones, or a
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Class 2
felony for
damaging more than 10 gravestones and shall |
provide restitution to the
cemetery authority or property owner |
for the amount of any damage caused.
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(b-7) Any person who acts without proper legal authority
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and who willfully and knowingly removes with the intent to
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resell a gravestone or other memorial, monument, or marker
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commemorating a deceased person or group of persons, whether
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located within or outside a recognized cemetery, memorial
park, |
or battlefield, is guilty of a Class 2 felony.
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(c) The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the |
removal or
unavoidable breakage or injury by a cemetery |
authority of anything placed
in or upon any portion of its |
cemetery in violation of any of the rules and
regulations of |
the cemetery authority, nor to the removal of anything
placed |
in the cemetery by or with the consent of the cemetery |
authority
that in the judgment of the cemetery authority has |
become wrecked,
unsightly, or dilapidated.
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(d) If an unemancipated minor is found guilty of violating |
any of the
provisions of subsection (b) of this Section and is |
unable to provide
restitution to the cemetery authority or |
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property owner, the parents or
legal guardians of that minor |
shall provide restitution to the cemetery
authority or property |
owner for the amount of any damage caused, up to the
total |
amount allowed under the Parental Responsibility Law.
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(d-5) Any person who commits any of the following: |
(1) any unauthorized, non-related third party or |
person who enters any sheds, crematories, or employee |
areas; |
(2) any non-cemetery personnel who solicits cemetery |
mourners or funeral directors on the grounds or in the |
offices or chapels of a cemetery before, during, or after a |
burial; |
(3) any person who harasses or threatens any employee |
of a cemetery on cemetery grounds; or |
(4) any unauthorized person who removes, destroys, or |
disturbs any cemetery devices or property placed for safety |
of visitors and cemetery employees;
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is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense and of |
a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent offense.
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(e) Any person who shall hunt, shoot
or discharge any gun, |
pistol or other missile, within the limits of any
cemetery, or |
shall cause any shot or missile to be discharged into or over
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any portion thereof, or shall violate any of the rules made and |
established
by the board of directors of such cemetery, for the |
protection or
government thereof, is guilty of a Class C |
misdemeanor.
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(f) Any person who knowingly enters or knowingly remains |
upon the
premises of a public or private cemetery without |
authorization during hours
that the cemetery is posted as |
closed to the public is guilty of a Class A
misdemeanor.
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(g) All fines
when recovered, shall be paid over by the |
court or officer receiving the
same to the cemetery association |
and be applied, as far as possible in
repairing the injury, if |
any, caused by such offense. Provided, nothing
contained in |
this Act shall deprive such cemetery association, or the owner
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of any lot or monument from maintaining an action for the |
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recovery of
damages caused by any injury caused by a violation |
of the provisions of
this Act, or of the rules established by |
the board of directors of such
cemetery association. Nothing in |
this Section shall be construed to
prohibit the discharge of |
firearms loaded with blank ammunition as part of
any funeral, |
any memorial observance or any other patriotic or military
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ceremony.
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(Source: P.A. 92-419, eff. 1-1-02.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
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