720 ILCS 5/12-9

(720 ILCS 5/12-9) (from Ch. 38, par. 12-9)

Sec. 12-9. Threatening public officials; human service providers.

(a) A person commits threatening a public official or human service provider when:

(1) that person knowingly delivers or conveys, directly or indirectly, to a public official or human service provider by any means a communication:

(i) containing a threat that would place the public official or human service provider or a member of his or her immediate family in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint; or

(ii) containing a threat that would place the public official or human service provider 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

(2) the threat was conveyed because of the performance or nonperformance of some public duty or duty as a human service provider, because of hostility of the person making the threat toward the status or position of the public official or the human service provider, or because of any other factor related to the official's public existence.

(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.

(a-6) For purposes of a threat to a social worker, caseworker, investigator, or human service provider, 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.

(b) For purposes of this Section:

(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 duly appointed assistant State's Attorney, assistant Attorney General, or Appellate Prosecutor; a sworn law enforcement or peace officer; a social worker, caseworker, attorney, or investigator employed by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Children and Family Services, or the Guardianship and Advocacy Commission; or an assistant public guardian, attorney, social worker, case manager, or investigator employed by a duly appointed public guardian.

(1.5) "Human service provider" means a social worker, case worker, or investigator employed by an agency or organization providing social work, case work, or investigative services under a contract with or a grant from the Department of Human Services, the Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or the Department on Aging.

(2) "Immediate family" means a public official's spouse or child or children.

(c) Threatening a public official or human service provider is a Class 3 felony for a first offense and a Class 2 felony for a second or subsequent offense.

(Source: P.A. 100-1, eff. 1-1-18.)