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| Public Act 102-0469
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| HB3265 Enrolled | LRB102 12031 LNS 17367 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,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by |
changing Section 8-802.1 as follows:
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(735 ILCS 5/8-802.1) (from Ch. 110, par. 8-802.1)
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Sec. 8-802.1. Confidentiality of Statements Made to Rape |
Crisis Personnel.
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(a) Purpose. This Section is intended to protect victims |
of rape from
public
disclosure of statements they make in |
confidence to counselors of organizations
established to help |
them. On or after July 1, 1984, "rape" means an act of
forced |
sexual penetration or sexual conduct, as defined in Section |
11-0.1 of
the Criminal Code of 2012, including acts prohibited |
under
Sections 11-1.20 through 11-1.60 or 12-13 through 12-16 |
of the Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012.
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Because of the fear and stigma that often results from those |
crimes, many
victims hesitate to seek help even where it is |
available at no cost to them.
As a result they not only fail to |
receive needed medical care and emergency
counseling, but may |
lack the psychological support necessary to report the
crime |
and aid police in preventing future crimes.
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(b) Definitions. As used in this Act:
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(1) "Rape crisis organization" means any organization |
or association a the
major purpose of which is providing |
information, counseling, and psychological
support to |
victims of any or all of the crimes of aggravated criminal |
sexual
assault, predatory criminal sexual assault of a |
child, criminal sexual
assault, sexual relations between |
siblings, criminal
sexual abuse and aggravated criminal |
sexual abuse. "Rape crisis organization" includes, but is |
not limited to, rape crisis centers certified by a |
statewide sexual assault coalition.
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(2) "Rape crisis counselor" means a person who is a |
psychologist,
social worker, employee, or volunteer in any |
organization or association
defined as a rape crisis |
organization under this Section, who has undergone 40
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hours of training and is under the control of a direct |
services supervisor of a
rape crisis organization.
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(3) "Victim" means a person who is the subject of, or |
who seeks
information, counseling, or advocacy services as |
a result of an aggravated
criminal sexual assault, |
predatory criminal sexual assault of a child,
criminal |
sexual assault, sexual relations within
families, criminal |
sexual abuse, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, sexual
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exploitation of a child, indecent solicitation of a child, |
public indecency,
exploitation of a child, promoting |
juvenile prostitution as described in subdivision (a)(4) |
of Section 11-14.4, or an attempt to commit any of these |
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offenses.
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(4) "Confidential communication" means any |
communication between a
victim and a rape crisis counselor |
in the course of providing information,
counseling, and |
advocacy. The term includes all records kept by the |
counselor
or by the organization in the course of |
providing services to an alleged victim
concerning the |
alleged victim and the services provided.
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(c) Waiver of privilege.
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(1) The confidential nature of the communication is |
not waived by: the
presence of a third person who further |
expresses the interests of the victim at
the time of the |
communication; group counseling; or disclosure to a third
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person with the consent of the victim when reasonably |
necessary to accomplish
the purpose for which the |
counselor is consulted.
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(2) The confidential nature of counseling records is |
not waived when:
the victim inspects the records; or in |
the case of a minor child less than
12 years of age, a |
parent or guardian whose interests are not adverse to
the |
minor inspects the records; or in the case of a minor |
victim 12 years
or older, a parent or guardian whose |
interests are not adverse to the minor
inspects the |
records with the victim's consent, or in the case of an |
adult who has a guardian of his or her person, the guardian |
inspects the records with the victim's consent.
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(3) When a victim is deceased, the executor
or |
administrator of the victim's estate may waive the |
privilege
established by this Section, unless the executor |
or
administrator has an interest adverse to the victim.
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(4) A minor victim 12 years of age or older may |
knowingly waive the
privilege established in this Section. |
When a minor is, in the opinion of
the Court, incapable of |
knowingly waiving the privilege, the parent or
guardian of |
the minor may waive the privilege on behalf of the minor,
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unless the parent or guardian has been charged with a |
violent crime against
the victim or otherwise has any |
interest adverse to that of the minor with
respect to the |
waiver of the privilege.
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(5) An adult victim who has a guardian of his or her |
person may knowingly waive the privilege established in |
this Section. When the victim is, in the opinion of the |
court, incapable of knowingly waiving the privilege, the |
guardian of the adult victim may waive the privilege on |
behalf of the victim, unless the guardian has been charged |
with a violent crime against the victim or otherwise has |
any interest adverse to the victim with respect to the |
privilege. |
(d) Confidentiality. Except as provided in this Act, no |
rape crisis
counselor shall disclose any confidential |
communication or be examined as a
witness in any civil or |
criminal proceeding as to any confidential
communication |
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without the written consent of the victim or a representative |
of
the victim as provided in subparagraph (c).
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(e) A rape crisis counselor may disclose a confidential |
communication
without the consent of the victim if failure to |
disclose is likely to
result in a clear, imminent risk of |
serious physical injury or death of the
victim or another |
person. Any rape crisis counselor or rape crisis
organization |
participating in good faith in the disclosing of records and
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communications under this Act shall have immunity from any |
liability,
civil, criminal, or otherwise that might result |
from the action.
In any proceeding, civil or criminal, arising |
out of a disclosure under
this Section, the good faith of any |
rape crisis counselor
or rape crisis organization who |
disclosed the confidential communication
shall be presumed.
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(f) Any rape crisis counselor who knowingly discloses any |
confidential
communication in violation of this Act commits a |
Class C misdemeanor.
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(Source: P.A. 96-1010, eff. 1-1-11; 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11; |
97-1150, eff. 1-25-13.)
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