Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 095-0984
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Public Act 095-0984


 

Public Act 0984 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY



 


 
Public Act 095-0984
 
SB2855 Enrolled LRB095 19679 RLC 46030 b

    AN ACT concerning criminal law.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Harassing and Obscene Communications Act is
amended by changing Sections 1-2 and 2 as follows:
 
    (720 ILCS 135/1-2)
    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;
        (3.1) Transmitting an electronic communication or
    knowingly inducing a person to transmit an electronic
    communication for the purpose of harassing another person
    who is under 13 years of age, regardless of whether the
    person under 13 years of age consents to the harassment, if
    the defendant is at least 16 years of age at the time of
    the commission of the offense;
        (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).
    (a-5) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile
service providers, and providers of information services,
including, but not limited to, Internet service providers and
hosting service providers, are not liable under this Section,
except for willful and wanton misconduct, by virtue of the
transmission, storage, or caching of electronic communications
or messages of others or by virtue of the provision of other
related telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or
information services used by others in violation of this
Section.
    (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.
(Source: P.A. 90-578, eff. 6-1-98; 91-878, eff. 1-1-01.)
 
    (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, 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 violation of Section
1, 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 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;
        (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; or
        (6) The person violates paragraph (4.1) of Section 1-1
    or paragraph (3.1) of subsection (a) of Section 1-2; or
        (7) The person was at least 18 years of age at the time
    of the commission of the offense and the victim was under
    18 years of age at the time of the commission of the
    offense.
(Source: P.A. 90-578, eff. 6-1-98; 91-878, eff. 1-1-01.)

Effective Date: 6/1/2009