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| Public Act 097-0303
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| HB2935 Enrolled | LRB097 06237 RLC 51035 b |
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AN ACT concerning criminal 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 Criminal Code of 1961 is amended by changing |
Section 12-7.5 as follows:
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(720 ILCS 5/12-7.5)
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Sec. 12-7.5. Cyberstalking.
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(a) A person commits cyberstalking when he or she engages |
in a course of conduct using electronic communication directed |
at a specific person, and he or she knows or should know that |
would cause a reasonable person to: |
(1) fear for his or her safety or the safety of a third |
person; or |
(2) suffer other emotional distress. |
(a-3) A person commits cyberstalking when he or she, |
knowingly and without
lawful justification, on at least 2 |
separate occasions, harasses another person
through the use of |
electronic communication and:
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(1) at any time transmits a threat of immediate or |
future bodily harm,
sexual assault, confinement, or |
restraint and the threat is directed towards
that person or |
a family member of that person; or
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(2) places that person or a family member of that |
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person in reasonable
apprehension of immediate or future |
bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement,
or restraint; or
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(3) at any time knowingly solicits the commission of an |
act by any person which would be a violation of this Code |
directed towards that person or a family member of that |
person. |
(a-5) A person commits cyberstalking when he or she, |
knowingly and without lawful justification, creates and |
maintains 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 statements harassing another person and: |
(1) which communicates a threat of immediate or future |
bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint, |
where the threat is directed towards that person or a |
family member of that person, or |
(2) which places that person or a family member of that |
person in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future |
bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint, or |
(3) which knowingly solicits the commission of an act |
by any person which would be a violation of this Code |
directed towards that person or a family member of that |
person.
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(b) Sentence. Cyberstalking is a Class 4 felony. A second |
or subsequent
conviction for cyberstalking is a Class 3 felony.
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(c) For purposes of this Section: |
(1) "Course of conduct" means 2 or more acts, including |
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but not limited to acts in which a defendant directly, |
indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, |
method, device, or means follows, monitors, observes, |
surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about, a person, |
engages in other non-consensual contact, or interferes |
with or damages a person's property or pet. The |
incarceration in a penal institution of a person who |
commits the course of conduct is not a bar to prosecution |
under this Section. |
(2) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of |
signs, signals, writings, sounds, data, or intelligence of |
any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, |
radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric, or photo-optical |
system. "Electronic communication" includes transmissions |
through an electronic device including, but not limited to, |
a telephone, cellular phone, computer, or pager, which |
communication includes, but is not limited to, e-mail, |
instant message, text message, or voice mail by a computer |
through the Internet to another computer. |
(3) "Emotional distress" means significant mental |
suffering, anxiety or alarm. |
(4) "Harass"
means to engage in a knowing and willful |
course of conduct directed at a
specific person
that |
alarms, torments, or terrorizes that person. |
(5) "Non-consensual contact" means any contact with |
the victim that is initiated or continued without the |
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victim's consent, including but not limited to being in the |
physical presence of the victim; appearing within the sight |
of the victim; approaching or confronting the victim in a |
public place or on private property; appearing at the |
workplace or residence of the victim; entering onto or |
remaining on property owned, leased, or occupied by the |
victim; or placing an object on, or delivering an object |
to, property owned, leased, or occupied by the victim. |
(6) "Reasonable person" means a person in the victim's |
circumstances, with the victim's knowledge of the |
defendant and the defendant's prior acts. |
(7) "Third party" means any person other than the |
person violating these provisions and the person or persons |
towards whom the violator's actions are directed. |
(d) 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. |
(Source: P.A. 95-849, eff. 1-1-09; 96-328, eff. 8-11-09; |
96-686, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)
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Section 10. The Harassing and Obscene Communications Act is |
amended by changing Section 1-2 as follows:
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(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
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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; |
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(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
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photo-optical system. "Electronic communication" includes |
transmissions through an electronic device including, but |
not limited to, a telephone, cellular phone, computer, or |
pager, which communication includes, but is not limited to, |
e-mail, instant message, text message, or voice mail by a |
computer through the Internet to another computer. |
(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, |
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neither a casual
acquaintanceship nor ordinary |
fraternization between 2 individuals in
business or social |
contexts shall be deemed to constitute a dating
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relationship. |
(c) 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. |
(Source: P.A. 95-849, eff. 1-1-09; 95-984, eff. 6-1-09; 96-328, |
eff. 8-11-09.)
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