New Illinois Legal Tools Against Cyberstalkers



New Illinois Legal Tools Against Cyberstalkers
by Susan Basko, esq.

Starting in 2019, Illinois ramped up the protections against cyberstalkers by making it illegal to send unwanted social media messages.  This is part of the civil restraining order law. The order puts the stalker on notice  -- and then any unwanted social media messages are a violation that can get the person arrested and charged. 

 Section 5. The Stalking No Contact Order Act is amended by
changing Sections 5, 10, and 15 as follows:
    (740 ILCS 21/5)
    Sec. 5. Purpose. Stalking generally refers to a course of
conduct, not a single act. Stalking behavior includes following
a person, conducting surveillance of the person, appearing at
the person's home, work or school, making unwanted phone calls,
sending unwanted emails, unwanted messages via social media, or
text messages, leaving objects for the person, vandalizing the
person's property, or injuring a pet. Stalking is a serious
crime. Victims experience fear for their safety, fear for the
safety of others and suffer emotional distress. Many victims
alter their daily routines to avoid the persons who are
stalking them. Some victims are in such fear that they relocate
to another city, town or state. While estimates suggest that
70% of victims know the individuals stalking them, only 30% of
victims have dated or been in intimate relationships with their
stalkers. All stalking victims should be able to seek a civil
remedy requiring the offenders stay away from the victims and
third parties.
(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10.)

The law also adds as prohibited places of contact workplaces, schools, and places of worship -- and authorized those in charge of those places to file restraining orders.



  (740 ILCS 21/10)
    Sec. 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act:
    "Course of conduct" means 2 or more acts, including but not
limited to acts in which a respondent directly, indirectly, or
through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means
follows, monitors, observes, surveils, or threatens, or
communicates to or about, a person, workplace, school, or place
of worship, engages in other contact, or interferes with or
damages a person's property or pet. A course of conduct may
include contact via electronic communications. The
incarceration of a person in a penal institution who commits
the course of conduct is not a bar to prosecution under this
Section.
    "Emotional distress" means significant mental suffering,
anxiety or alarm.
    "Contact" includes any contact with the victim, that is
initiated or continued without the victim's consent, or that is
in disregard of the victim's expressed desire that the contact
be avoided or discontinued, 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; and appearing at the
prohibited workplace, school, or place of worship.
    "Petitioner" means any named petitioner for the stalking no
contact order or any named victim of stalking on whose behalf
the petition is brought. "Petitioner" includes an authorized
agent of a place of employment, an authorized agent of a place
of worship, or an authorized agent of a school.
    "Reasonable person" means a person in the petitioner's
circumstances with the petitioner's knowledge of the
respondent and the respondent's prior acts.
    "Stalking" means engaging 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 fear
for his or her safety, the safety of a workplace, school, or
place of worship, or the safety of a third person or suffer
emotional distress. Stalking does not include an exercise of
the right to free speech or assembly that is otherwise lawful
or 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.
    "Stalking No Contact Order" means an emergency order or 
plenary order granted under this Act, which includes a remedy
authorized by Section 80 of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10.)

The law widens the group of people who may apply for a restraining order to include those who are being stalked -- which includes those who fear for their safety or suffer distress because of unwanted contact, including unwanted social media postings.  

(740 ILCS 21/15)
    Sec. 15. Persons protected by this Act. A petition for a
stalking no contact order may be filed when relief is not
available to the petitioner under the Illinois Domestic
Violence Act of 1986:
        (1) by any person who is a victim of stalking; or
        (2) by a person on behalf of a minor child or an adult
    who is a victim of stalking but, because of age,
    disability, health, or inaccessibility, cannot file the
    petition; .
        (3) by an authorized agent of a workplace;
        (4) by an authorized agent of a place of worship; or
        (5) by an authorized agent of a school.
(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10.)

These new changes to the Illinois stalking law give good new tools to combat stalkers and cyberstalkers.  The criminal portion of the Illinois Stalking and Cyberstalking laws are already quite protective.