In Illinois, when will hitting 'record'
not land you in prison?
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XanderSt |
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A
13-year-old boy’s felony charge for recording his middle school principal begs
the question: When is it OK to record someone without breaking Illinois state
law?
Paul
Boron recorded his
principal and another school official when they talked to him about missing
detention. When the school leaders learned Boron was recording, they reported
it. The Kankakee County State's Attorney charged Boron with a Class 4
felony in April. The same as aggravated DUI and first-time weapon offenses.
What
Boron did is legal in most other states. Illinois is what’s known as a two-party
consent state, meaning that recording someone without permission
in even a semi-private area is a Class 4 felony. The key term in the law is a
“reasonable expectation of privacy.” Recording a phone call, for instance,
would likely be a felony.
“The
principal of two-party consent is something that Illinois has that provides
people with a greater degree of privacy than in many other states,” ACLU
Illinois staff attorney Ben Ruddell.
In
Boron’s case, Ruddell said everyone involved went too far.
“It was
entirely inappropriate for this situation to be dealt with in this manner,” he
said. “To criminalize this young man and make a felon out of him is something
we can unequivocally say is the wrong thing to do.”
Opponents
of Illinois’ two-party consent law says it’s too broad, allowing for abuses of
authority in the same manner as the Manteno school officials did against Boron.
Many cases of this law being charged is when a private citizen records public
officials, even law enforcement.
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