If you have been convicted of a crime, you may have either served a jail sentence and then been subject to probation, or you could have been sentenced to probation in lieu of jail. Either way, probation is taken seriously in Illinois and there are consequences for violators. Probation usually requires those who are convicted of a crime to follow a certain set of rules, which can be different for everyone, based on the crime they were convicted of. Violating a condition of your probation can lead to unwanted consequences.

Common Terms and Conditions for Probation

Though the terms of probation differ from person to person, there are a few conditions that are usually present in most probations. These conditions include:

An Illinois man has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman that he met at a nightclub in August 2017. The man was sentenced to probation last week after he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and not criminal sexual assault, which he was originally charged with.

The Case

According to police, the man and another man, both residents of Arlington Heights, met the woman and two of her friends at a club in Lake in the Hills. The group left the club and went to the woman’s Crystal Lake house where the man forcibly performed sex acts on the woman, who said he held her down during the acts. The woman also stated that the men stole several pieces of jewelry that amounted to more than $500.

In the state of Illinois, domestic violence is defined as any act of physical abuse, harassment, intimidation, interference of personal liberty, or willful deprivation carried out against a family or household member. Domestic violence is a serious crime that can affect the physical and emotional well-being of victims. One defense that domestic violence victims have is orders of protection. If you’ve been accused of domestic violence and have received an order of protection against you, it is important for you to understand what you can and cannot do and the consequences if you break the order of protection.

What Is an Order of Protection?

According to the Illinois State Police, an order of protection is a legal order, given by a judge, that helps to protect victims of domestic violence. Orders of protection can order an abuser to take certain actions or to forbid them from taking certain actions. In Illinois, there are three types of orders of protection: emergency orders, interim orders, and plenary orders.

A homeless Illinois man has been charged with sexual assault for an incident occurring near the Illinois Prairie Path in Wheaton. The incident occurred in the early morning on May 18 near a DuPage Pads shelter, an organization that provides housing and support services to help individuals become self-sufficient.

The Case

Wheaton Police responded to a call that someone was screaming for help around the Pads shelter in Wheaton. The police reported that when they got there, they found the victim and the woman who was screaming for help, with dirt on her face and scratches and cuts to her upper body. According to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s office, the man approached the woman and demanded sex. When she refused, he allegedly dragged her into the woods by her hair, sexually assaulted her and then fled the scene.

With the rise of technology, internet-based crimes have become more common in our society. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report, nearly 300,000 complaints were made concerning internet crime in 2017. Illinois ranked number seven on the list of states with the most internet crime incidences. The state of Illinois made changes to the Cyberstalking section of the Criminal Code of 2012, which went into effect at the beginning of 2018.

What Is Cyberstalking?

According to Illinois law, cyberstalking takes places when a person uses electronic communication to cause another person to fear for their safety or suffer emotional distress. The law also says that cyberstalking is committed if a person uses electronic communication to harass another person on two or more occasions and threatens bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement or restraint of the person or a family member of the person.