HB5122enr 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB5122 Enrolled LRB097 18007 RLC 63230 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 adding Section 12-20.6 as follows:

(720 ILCS 5/12-20.6 new)

Sec. 12-20.6. Abuse of a corpse.

(a) In this Section:

"Corpse" means the dead body of a human being.

"Sexual conduct" has the meaning ascribed to the term in Section 11-0.1 of this Code.

(b) A person commits abuse of a corpse if he or she intentionally:

(1) engages in sexual conduct with a corpse or involving a corpse; or

(2) removes or carries away a corpse and is not authorized by law to do so.

(c) Sentence.

(1) A person convicted of violating paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of this Section is guilty of a Class 2 felony.

(2) A person convicted of violating paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of this Section is guilty of a Class 4 felony.

(d) Paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of this Section does not apply to:

(1) persons employed by a county medical examiner's office or coroner's office acting within the scope of their employment;

(2) the acts of a licensed funeral director or embalmer while performing acts authorized by the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing Code;

(3) cemeteries and cemetery personnel while performing acts pursuant to a bona fide request from the involved cemetery consumer or his or her heirs, or pursuant to an interment or disinterment permit or a court order, or as authorized under Section 14.5 of the Cemetery Protection Act, or any other actions legally authorized for cemetery employees;

(4) the acts of emergency medical personnel or physicians performed in good faith and according to the usual and customary standards of medical practice in an attempt to resuscitate a life;

(5) physicians licensed to practice medicine in a11 of its branches or holding a visiting professor, physician, or resident permit under the Medical Practice Act of 1987, performing acts in accordance with usual and customary standards of medical practice, or a currently enrolled student in an accredited medical school in furtherance of his or her education at the accredited medical school; or

(6) removing or carrying away a corpse by the employees, independent contractors, or other persons designated by the federally designated organ procurement agency engaged in the organ and tissue procurement process.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.