Bill Title: Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that a parent, legal guardian, or caretaker of a child in his or her care who is 12 years of age or younger commits a Class 3 felony when he or she fails to notify a law enforcement agency in a timely manner of the child's disappearance and: (1) knows that the child is missing; and (2) knows or reasonably should know that the child is potentially in danger of death or serious injury. Provides that it is the duty of a parent, legal guardian, or caretaker of a minor child who becomes aware of the death of the minor child occurring under specified circumstances to report such death and circumstances forthwith to the county medical examiner or county coroner in the county where the parent, caretaker, or guardian believes the death of the minor child is most likely to have occurred. Provides that any such parent, legal guardian, or caretaker who knowingly fails or refuses to report such death and circumstances, who refuses to make available prior medical or other information pertinent to the death investigation, or who, without an order from the office of the county medical examiner or county coroner, willfully touches, removes, or disturbs the body, clothing, or any other thing on or near the body with the intent to alter the evidence or circumstances surrounding the death commits a Class 3 felony. Effective immediately.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-4)
Status: (Passed) 2012-08-24 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 97-1079
[SB2537 Detail]Download: Illinois-2011-SB2537-Chaptered.html
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| Public Act 097-1079
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| SB2537 Enrolled | LRB097 14538 RLC 59393 b |
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AN ACT concerning criminal law, which may be referred to as |
Caylee's 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 |
Sections 12-9 and 31-4 and adding Section 10-10 as follows:
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(720 ILCS 5/10-10 new) |
Sec. 10-10. Failure to report the death or disappearance of |
a child under 13 years of age. |
(a) A parent, legal guardian, or caretaker
of a child under |
13 years of age commits failure to report the death or |
disappearance of a child under 13 years of age when he or she |
knows or should know and fails to report the child as missing |
or deceased to a law enforcement agency within 24 hours if the |
parent, legal guardian, or caretaker reasonably believes that |
the child is missing or deceased. In the case of a child under |
the age of 2 years, the reporting requirement is reduced to no |
more than one hour. |
(b) A parent, legal guardian, or caretaker
of a child under |
13 years of age must report the death of the child to the law |
enforcement agency of the county where the child's corpse was |
found if the parent, legal guardian, or caretaker reasonably |
believes that the death of the child was caused by a homicide, |
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accident, or other suspicious circumstance. |
(c) The Department of Children and Family Services
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Guardianship Administrator shall not personally be subject to |
the reporting requirements in subsection (a) or (b) of this |
Section. |
(d) A parent, legal guardian, or caretaker does not commit |
the offense of failure to report the death or disappearance of |
a child under 13 years of age when: |
(1) the failure to report is due to an act of God, act |
of war, or inability of a law enforcement agency to receive |
a report of the disappearance of a child; |
(2) the parent, legal guardian, or caretaker calls 911 |
to report the disappearance of the child; |
(3) the parent, legal guardian, or caretaker knows that |
the child is under the care of another parent, family |
member, relative, friend, or baby sitter; or |
(4) the parent, legal guardian, or caretaker is |
hospitalized, in a coma, or is otherwise seriously |
physically or mentally impaired as to prevent the person |
from reporting the death or disappearance. |
(e) Sentence. A violation of this Section is a Class 4 |
felony.
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(720 ILCS 5/12-9) (from Ch. 38, par. 12-9)
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Sec. 12-9. Threatening public officials.
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(a) A person commits threatening a public official when:
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(1) that person knowingly delivers or conveys, |
directly
or indirectly, to a public official by any means a |
communication:
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(i) containing a threat that would place
the public |
official or a member of his or her immediate family in |
reasonable
apprehension of immediate or future bodily |
harm, sexual assault, confinement,
or restraint; or
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(ii) containing a threat that would place the |
public official
or a member of his or her immediate |
family in reasonable apprehension that
damage will |
occur to property in the custody, care, or control of |
the public
official or his or her immediate family; and
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(2) the threat was conveyed because of the performance |
or nonperformance
of some public duty, because of hostility |
of the person making the threat
toward the status or |
position of the public official, or because of any
other |
factor related to the official's public existence.
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(a-5) For purposes of a threat to a sworn law enforcement |
officer, the threat must contain specific facts indicative of a |
unique threat to the person, family or property of the officer |
and not a generalized threat of harm.
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(a-6) For purposes of a threat to a social worker, |
caseworker, or investigator, the threat must contain specific |
facts indicative of a unique threat to the person, family or |
property of the individual and not a generalized threat of |
harm. |
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(b) For purposes of this Section:
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(1) "Public official"
means a person who is elected to |
office in accordance with a statute or
who is appointed to |
an office which is established, and the qualifications
and |
duties of which are prescribed, by statute, to discharge a |
public duty
for the State or any of its political |
subdivisions or in the case of
an elective office any |
person who has filed the required documents for
nomination |
or election to such office. "Public official" includes a
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duly
appointed assistant State's Attorney, assistant |
Attorney General, or Appellate Prosecutor; , and a sworn |
law enforcement or peace officer; a social worker, |
caseworker, or investigator employed by the Department of |
Healthcare and Family Services, the Department of Human |
Services, or the Department of Children and Family |
Services.
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(2) "Immediate family" means a
public official's |
spouse or child or children.
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(c) Threatening a public official is a Class 3 felony for a
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first offense and a Class 2 felony for a second or subsequent |
offense.
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(Source: P.A. 95-466, eff. 6-1-08; 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11.)
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(720 ILCS 5/31-4) (from Ch. 38, par. 31-4)
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Sec. 31-4. Obstructing justice.
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(a) A person obstructs justice when, with intent to prevent |
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the apprehension
or obstruct the prosecution or defense of any |
person, he or she knowingly commits
any of the following acts:
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(1) (a) Destroys, alters, conceals or disguises |
physical evidence, plants
false evidence, furnishes false |
information; or
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(2) (b) Induces a witness having knowledge material to |
the subject at issue
to leave the State or conceal himself |
or herself; or
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(3) (c) Possessing knowledge material to the subject at |
issue, he or she leaves the
State or conceals himself; or |
(4) If a parent, legal guardian, or caretaker
of a |
child under 13 years of age reports materially false |
information to a law enforcement agency, medical examiner, |
coroner, State's Attorney, or other governmental agency |
during an investigation of the disappearance or death of a |
child under circumstances described in subsection (a) or |
(b) of Section 10-10 of this Code.
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(b) (d) Sentence.
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(1) Obstructing justice is a Class 4 felony, except as |
provided in
paragraph (2) of this subsection (b) (d).
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(2) Obstructing justice in furtherance of streetgang |
related or
gang-related activity, as defined in Section 10 |
of the Illinois Streetgang
Terrorism Omnibus Prevention |
Act, is a Class 3 felony.
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(Source: P.A. 90-363, eff. 1-1-98.)
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