HB3804eng 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB3804 Engrossed LRB097 12822 RLC 57318 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 1961 is amended by changing Section 31-4 and adding Section 10-10 as follows:

(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, accident, or other suspicious circumstance.

(c) 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.

(d) Sentence. A violation of this Section is a Class 4 felony.

(720 ILCS 5/31-4) (from Ch. 38, par. 31-4)

Sec. 31-4. Obstructing justice.

(a) A person obstructs justice when, with intent to prevent the apprehension or obstruct the prosecution or defense of any person, he or she knowingly commits any of the following acts:

(1) (a) Destroys, alters, conceals or disguises physical evidence, plants false evidence, furnishes false information; or

(2) (b) Induces a witness having knowledge material to the subject at issue to leave the State or conceal himself or herself; or

(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.

(b) (d) Sentence.

(1) Obstructing justice is a Class 4 felony, except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection (b) (d).

(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.

(Source: P.A. 90-363, eff. 1-1-98.)