(The Center Square) – Around a dozen new laws going into effect on January 1 will change Illinois’ criminal justice system. Here is a look at some of the changes.
Beginning on New Year’s Day, law enforcement training will include a course to help officers identify and respond to people with autism.
Another law affecting hazing cases will eliminate consent or permission of the victim as a defense.
Another change is that people who fail to appear in court may receive a reminder about their next court date by text, phone call, or email.
State Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis, opposed the new notification measure.
“Currently, the law is that if an individual does not pay a traffic ticket, their license is suspended. Of course, that creates a great incentive for a person to pay their traffic tickets,” Windhorst said during floor debate. “If this becomes law, an individual will get three unpaid tickets per year before they would have their license suspended.”
House Bill 4500 changes the name of the offense “unlawful use of a weapon” to “unlawful possession of a weapon.” The old name suggests that the accused used a weapon, usually a firearm, when the crime committed is only illegal possession of the weapon.
The bill also changes the name of the Class X felony currently called “armed habitual criminal” to “unlawful possession of a firearm by a repeat felony offender.”
Armed habitual criminal charges can be filed when someone previously convicted of two or more serious crimes is caught carrying or using a firearm. Crimes that can qualify someone for the charge range from murder, robbery, and burglary to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and certain narcotics violations.
The name change was spearheaded by two state representatives from Chicago, Kam Buckner and Kelly Cassidy.
“It really comes out of the reentry space where people who don’t live in this world as we do [as state legislators] see the title of the offense and think it means something much more nefarious than it really does mean,” Cassidy said.
A handful of the nearly 300 laws going into effect on January 1 give crime victims more authority. One measure expands the definition of “course of contact” in stalking cases to include electronic tracking devices. The change addresses the growing use of surreptitiously placed AirTags and similar devices.
The new year will give juveniles charged with a crime committed while entrapped by a human trafficking situation the right to have the matter expunged.
House Bill 1168, carried by state Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, impacts crime victims’ DNA.
“It provides that when DNA evidence is collected from a person because the person was the victim of a crime, that specific DNA profile collected in conjunction with that criminal investigation shall not be entered into any DNA databases,” Villanueva explained before the bill passed.
A separate law allows victims who had their license plates stolen to get new license plates issued by the Illinois Secretary of State. Another law allows a person to recover personal effects from a vehicle being towed. If the vehicle is stolen and later towed, storage fees cannot be charged if the vehicle is recovered within seven days.
There are more new laws affecting drivers:
- The state will begin the process of creating driver’s licenses valid for eight years if an applicant qualifies.
- The Secretary of State will begin creating a mobile, electronic driver’s license option.
- Drivers will be prohibited from stopping on the shoulder of a highway near O’Hare International Airport.
CWBChicago editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the new name for the offense currently called “armed habitual criminal.”
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