A modern Illinois bill aims to close a critical gap in the state’s legal approach to teachers’ sexual exploitation of students. It is currently legal for school staff to have sexual relationships with 18-year-old students.
Republican lawmakers led by Republican state Rep. Amy Elik are seeking it change This is done with House Bill 4241, which would require criminal charges against educators who utilize their authority to have sexual relationships with adult students.
Elik said the bill “protects students ages 18 and older in secondary schools by creating the criminal offense of abuse of authority by an educator or authority figure.” If the measure passes, a teacher’s first sexual conduct would be classified as a Class A misdemeanor . Subsequent offenses would be considered Class 4 felonies. “We expect adults to take responsibility in schools and to know that this abuse is not appropriate,” the lawmakers argued.
State Sen. Terri Bryant, who co-sponsored the legislation, noted that some teachers begin conditioning minors before they turn 18.
State Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said children cannot afford to wait any longer for this issue to be resolved.
“There are unscrupulous teachers, I would even call them evil, who at the age of 15, 16 and 17 raise these young people so that at 18 they can suddenly have a relationship with them, because now they have turned 18 and there are no criminal charges,” Bryant said.
The bill has received significant support. It passed unanimously in the House Judiciary Committee. Elik said the bipartisan measure “does not face vocal opposition and must move forward this session to ensure students receive the necessary protections they deserve.”
The measure not only provides for penalties for first and subsequent offences, but also aims to stop Offenders are discouraged from getting positions at other schools and continuing to engage in the same behavior. Elik noted that “this person can continue to work with other children and other child-focused organizations such as summer camps, parks and recreation jobs, or volunteer organizations without criminal charges due to a background check.”
If Illinois passes this law, it will connect Several other states have already passed similar laws.
More than 75 percent of states have now passed laws that explicitly prohibit sexual misconduct by educators and recognize that even if a student is over the age of consent, the educator is in a position of authority over the student and the student cannot consent to such a relationship.
A legislative analysis of these laws by Abboud et al., including data collected between 2010 and 2017, documented that the number of current laws criminalizing “educator sexual misconduct” nearly doubled from 15 to 29. “Our review shows that currently thirty nine (39) states and the District of Columbia have passed laws prohibiting the sexual abuse of children by those working in or associated with schools and by those in positions of authority which also includes school staff, “they wrote.
The bill is currently in the state Senate, which is expected to take up the matter by the end of March.
