What is the current Illinois criminal statute regarding harassment?

Interesting little commentary which does not address the statute but says what might be considered harassment under certain specific circumstances

There are different forms of harassment in Illinois, depending on what the actual allegation is. Most commonly the charge of Harassment stems from Telephone Harassment (720 ILCS 135/1‑1) Harassment by telephone is use of telephone communication for any of the following purposes: (1) Making any comment, request, suggestion or proposal which is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy or indecent with an intent to offend; or (2) Making a telephone call, whether or not conversation ensues, with intent to abuse, threaten or harass any person at the called number; or (3) Making or causing the telephone of another repeatedly to ring, with intent to harass any person at the called number; or (4) Making repeated telephone calls, during which conversation ensues, solely to harass any person at the called number; or (4.1) Making a telephone call or knowingly inducing a person to make a telephone call for the purpose of harassing another person who is under 13 years of age, regardless of whether the person under 13 years of age consents to the harassment, if the defendant is at least 16 years of age at the time of the commission of the offense; or (5) Knowingly permitting any telephone under one's control to be used for any of the purposes mentioned herein. Every telephone directory published for distribution to members of the general public shall contain a notice setting forth a summary of the provisions of this Section. Such notice shall be printed in type which is no smaller than any other type on the same page and shall be preceded by the word "WARNING". All telephone companies in this State shall cooperate with law enforcement agencies in using their facilities and personnel to detect and prevent violations of this Act. Generally a first or second offense is a misdemeanor, but under some theory it can be charged as a felony. Also of concern is the definition of Harassment as it pertains to Orders of Protection which prohibit harassment. Illinois Law defines harassment for orders of protection purposes under 750 ILCS 60/103 (7): "Harassment" means knowing conduct which is not necessary to accomplish a purpose that is reasonable under the circumstances; would cause a reasonable person emotional distress; and does cause emotional distress to the petitioner. Unless the presumption is rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence, the following types of conduct shall be presumed to cause emotional distress: (i) creating a disturbance at petitioner's place of employment or school; (ii) repeatedly telephoning petitioner's place of employment, home or residence; (iii) repeatedly following petitioner about in a public place or places; (iv) repeatedly keeping petitioner under surveillance by remaining present outside his or her home, school, place of employment, vehicle or other place occupied by petitioner or by peering in petitioner's windows; (v) improperly concealing a minor child from petitioner, repeatedly threatening to improperly remove a minor child of petitioner's from the jurisdiction or from the physical care of petitioner, repeatedly threatening to conceal a minor child from petitioner, or making a single such threat following an actual or attempted improper removal or concealment, unless respondent was fleeing an incident or pattern of domestic violence; or (vi) threatening physical force, confinement or restraint on one or more occasions. Violations of Orders of Protection carry offenses that also can be charged as misdemanors, and sometimes as felonys. Without more specifics as to the purpose of your need for a definition of harassment that is the best I can provide. If you are more specific, I can give a clearer answer. Good luck.

If charged retain a criminal counsel at once. Similarly, no one in the right mind would self-medicate a serious medical affliction without consulting a doctor, therefore, do not lull yourself into a safe zone thinking you are free to act skirting the legal statutes with sophisticated legal research online alone. Do not do anything suspect without first consulting a legal criminal professional in person.