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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
URGING THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO PASS HB4312/SB3020 AN ACT CONCERNING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
WHEREAS, electronic harassment is a rapidly expanding tactic employed in domestic violence to establish power, control, and intimidation over a partner. This form of technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) is prevalent, with studies indicating its occurrence in over 90% of gender-based violence cases; and
WHEREAS, abusers employ digital tools to monitor, track, and isolate victims, effectively replicating traditional abusive tactics through technological means; and
WHEREAS, digital abuse instills a pervasive sense of “omnipresence,” causing the victim to experience constant surveillance and a heightened sense of insecurity, even in physically isolated situations; and
WHEREAS, online abuse often precedes or coincides with physical violence. Harassment, including persistent threats or doxxing, can rapidly escalate into real-life danger; and
WHEREAS, common digital tactics employed include incessant threatening texts and emails, image-based abuse (sharing intimate photographs without consent or “revenge porn”), controlling smart home systems (locks, thermostats), and impersonation; and
WHEREAS, electronic harassment is increasingly recognized by law as a form of domestic violence, frequently resulting in legal repercussions for the perpetrator; and
WHEREAS, the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence reported a 110 percent increase in domestic-related deaths in 2023 in Illinois; and
WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) indicates that 41 percent of women and 25 percent of men experience sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime; and
WHEREAS, HB4312/SB3020 seeks to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 and the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986, including changes to the definitions of "harassment" to include, among other actions, doxing, electronic tracking, and nonconsensual creation, dissemination, or threatening the dissemination of electronically generated or digitally altered content pertaining to the petitioner; and
WHEREAS, the legislation provides that the court may issue a domestic violence order of protection to prohibit and cease and desist from these types of harassment; and
WHEREAS, it further requires counties to provide remote access to a hearing on a protective order to include relevant witnesses besides the petitioner and respondent unless good cause is shown; and
WHEREAS, it creates additional remedies for the court to grant in a domestic violence order of protection, and requires that any motion to extend a plenary order must be filed on or before the expiration date, and the plenary order remains in effect after filing until its original expiration date or until the motion is presented or heard, whichever is later; and
WHEREAS, it provides for additional amendatory language to equip the court with the necessary tools to safeguard victims by simplifying the extension requirements; and
WHEREAS, this Honorable Body has been diligently working to provide support to victims of domestic violence, enhance court access and procedures, and generate recommendations for further improvements in both domestic violence and domestic relations court;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners does hereby urge the Illinois General Assembly to pass HB4312/SB3020 amending the Protective Orders Article of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 and the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a suitable copy of this Resolution be tendered to the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, the President of the Illinois Senate, the main sponsors of such House and Senate Bills, the Cook County delegation to the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor of Illinois.
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