Public Act 92-0199
SB233 Enrolled LRB9207519ARsb 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 1961 is amended by adding Section 12-7.5 as follows: (720 ILCS 5/12-7.5 new) Sec. 12-7.5. Cyberstalking.
(a) 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:
(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 or a family member of that person in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint.
(b) As used in this Section: "Harass" means to engage in a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that alarms, torments, or terrorizes that person. "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, electronmagnetic, photoelectric, or photo-optical system. "Electronic communication" includes transmissions by a computer through the Internet to another computer.
(c) Sentence. Cyberstalking is a Class 4 felony. A second or subsequent conviction for cyberstalking is a Class 3 felony. Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law. Passed in the General Assembly May 08, 2001. Approved August 01, 2001.