Bill Text: IL SB0623 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. In the statute concerning stalking, defines "places a person under surveillance" to include tracking the person through any available technological means. Provides that a person also commits aggravated stalking when he or she commits stalking and causes severe and permanent disability, great bodily harm, or disfigurement. Makes this violation a Class 1 felony.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Failed) 2019-01-09 - Session Sine Die [SB0623 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-SB0623-Introduced.html

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100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2017 and 2018 SB0623 Introduced 1/25/2017, by Sen. Thomas Cullerton SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
720 ILCS 5/12-7.3 from Ch. 38, par. 12-7.3
720 ILCS 5/12-7.4 from Ch. 38, par. 12-7.4
Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. In the statute concerning stalking, defines "places a person under surveillance" to include tracking the person through any available technological means. Provides that a person also commits aggravated stalking when he or she commits stalking and causes severe and permanent disability, great bodily harm, or disfigurement. Makes this violation a Class 1 felony.
LRB100 08026 RLC 18109 b
CORRECTIONAL BUDGET AND IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
SB0623 LRB100 08026 RLC 18109 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 Criminal Code of 2012 is amended by changing
Sections 12-7.3 and 12-7.4 as follows:
(720 ILCS 5/12-7.3) (from Ch. 38, par. 12-7.3)
Sec. 12-7.3. Stalking.
(a) A person commits stalking when he or she knowingly
engages in a course of conduct directed at a specific person,
and he or she knows or should know that this course of conduct
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 stalking when he or she, knowingly
and without lawful justification, on at least 2 separate
occasions follows another person or places the person under
surveillance or any combination thereof and:
(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
(2) places that person in reasonable apprehension of

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immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault,
confinement or restraint to or of that person or a family
member of that person.
(a-5) A person commits stalking when he or she has
previously been convicted of stalking another person and
knowingly and without lawful justification on one occasion:
(1) follows that same person or places that same person
under surveillance; and
(2) transmits a threat of immediate or future bodily
harm, sexual assault, confinement or restraint to that
person or a family member of that person.
(b) Sentence. Stalking is a Class 4 felony; a second or
subsequent conviction is a Class 3 felony.
(c) Definitions. For purposes of this Section:
(1) "Course of conduct" means 2 or more acts, including
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. A course of
conduct may include contact via electronic communications.
(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

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system. "Electronic communication" includes transmissions
by a computer through the Internet to another computer.
(3) "Emotional distress" means significant mental
suffering, anxiety or alarm.
(4) "Family member" means a parent, grandparent,
brother, sister, or child, whether by whole blood,
half-blood, or adoption and includes a step-grandparent,
step-parent, step-brother, step-sister or step-child.
"Family member" also means any other person who regularly
resides in the household, or who, within the prior 6
months, regularly resided in the household.
(5) "Follows another person" means (i) to move in
relative proximity to a person as that person moves from
place to place or (ii) to remain in relative proximity to a
person who is stationary or whose movements are confined to
a small area. "Follows another person" does not include a
following within the residence of the defendant.
(6) "Non-consensual contact" means any contact with
the victim that is initiated or continued without the
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

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to, property owned, leased, or occupied by the victim.
(7) "Places a person under surveillance" means: (1)
remaining present outside the person's school, place of
employment, vehicle, other place occupied by the person, or
residence other than the residence of the defendant; or (2)
placing an electronic tracking device on the person or the
person's property, or otherwise tracks the person through
any available technological means.
(8) "Reasonable person" means a person in the victim's
situation.
(9) "Transmits a threat" means a verbal or written
threat or a threat implied by a pattern of conduct or a
combination of verbal or written statements or conduct.
(d) Exemptions.
(1) This Section does not apply to any individual or
organization (i) monitoring or attentive to compliance
with public or worker safety laws, wage and hour
requirements, or other statutory requirements, or (ii)
picketing occurring at the workplace that is otherwise
lawful and arises out of a bona fide labor dispute,
including any controversy concerning wages, salaries,
hours, working conditions or benefits, including health
and welfare, sick leave, insurance, and pension or
retirement provisions, the making or maintaining of
collective bargaining agreements, and the terms to be
included in those agreements.

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(2) This Section does not apply to an exercise of the
right to free speech or assembly that is otherwise lawful.
(3) 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.
(d-5) The incarceration of a person in a penal institution
who commits the course of conduct or transmits a threat is not
a bar to prosecution under this Section.
(d-10) A defendant who directed the actions of a third
party to violate this Section, under the principles of
accountability set forth in Article 5 of this Code, is guilty
of violating this Section as if the same had been personally
done by the defendant, without regard to the mental state of
the third party acting at the direction of the defendant.
(Source: P.A. 96-686, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11;
97-311, eff. 8-11-11; 97-1109, eff. 1-1-13.)
(720 ILCS 5/12-7.4) (from Ch. 38, par. 12-7.4)

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Sec. 12-7.4. Aggravated stalking.
(a) A person commits aggravated stalking when he or she
commits stalking and:
(1) causes bodily harm to the victim;
(2) confines or restrains the victim; or
(3) violates a temporary restraining order, an order of
protection, a stalking no contact order, a civil no contact
order, or an injunction prohibiting the behavior described
in subsection (b)(1) of Section 214 of the Illinois
Domestic Violence Act of 1986; or
(4) causes severe and permanent disability, great
bodily harm, or disfigurement.
(a-1) A person commits aggravated stalking when he or she
is required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act
or has been previously required to register under that Act and
commits the offense of stalking when the victim of the stalking
is also the victim of the offense for which the sex offender is
required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act or
a family member of the victim.
(b) Sentence. Except as otherwise provided, aggravated
Aggravated stalking is a Class 3 felony; a second or subsequent
conviction is a Class 2 felony. Aggravated stalking as defined
in subdivision (a)(4) is a Class 1 felony.
(c) Exemptions.
(1) This Section does not apply to any individual or
organization (i) monitoring or attentive to compliance

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with public or worker safety laws, wage and hour
requirements, or other statutory requirements, or (ii)
picketing occurring at the workplace that is otherwise
lawful and arises out of a bona fide labor dispute
including any controversy concerning wages, salaries,
hours, working conditions or benefits, including health
and welfare, sick leave, insurance, and pension or
retirement provisions, the managing or maintenance of
collective bargaining agreements, and the terms to be
included in those agreements.
(2) This Section does not apply to an exercise of the
right of free speech or assembly that is otherwise lawful.
(3) 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.
(d) A defendant who directed the actions of a third party
to violate this Section, under the principles of accountability
set forth in Article 5 of this Code, is guilty of violating

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this Section as if the same had been personally done by the
defendant, without regard to the mental state of the third
party acting at the direction of the defendant.
(Source: P.A. 96-686, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11;
97-311, eff. 8-11-11; 97-468, eff. 1-1-12; 97-1109, eff.
1-1-13.)