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Illinois · Through at least Public Act 104-790

720 ILCS 5/12-20.6: Abuse of a corpse.

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Where this section sits in the code
  1. CHAPTER 720 CRIMINAL OFFENSES
  2. Criminal Code of 2012.

(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 all 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.

Collected 2026-09-15T04:46:41Z. Source file · JSON

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