Recent Blog Posts
Understanding Parental Kidnapping Laws
A terrible divorce can have an assortment of unintended consequences. Specifically, the parent of a child may make the brash decision to remove the child from the home or even from the state or country before or after an adverse custody decision is handed down by a court. When this occurs, a variety of laws exist in order to punish the kidnapping parent, and also to ensure that the kidnapped child is returned to his or her rightful guardian. The fact that parental kidnapping laws exist at the local, state, federal, and international level illustrates the real complications that can result from parental kidnapping and other related child custody disputes.
The Federal and International Laws Regarding Parental Kidnapping
Parental kidnapping can occur at the international level, when each parent is a citizen of a different country. As a result, international law has provided a variety of legal protections and conventions. Under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, in parental kidnapping disputes before the U.S. courts, such courts must order the return of a child to the country of his or her habitual residence when it has been found that the child in question was wrongfully detained and/or removed to the United States. Parental kidnapping issues can arise in cases where one parent is a U.S. citizen and the other parent is a foreign national, who decides to return to his or her home country with the child and without the other parent's consent. Federal law provides that when a parent removes or attempts to remove a child out of the U.S. with the intent to obstruct the other parent's lawful exercise of parental rights, the removing parent could be subjected to a felony conviction punishable by no more than three years in prison. Furthermore, the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA) was enacted in order to mitigate the complicated jurisdictional conflicts that can arise in child custody cases, such as parental kidnappings, by facilitating mutual cooperation amongst the various state courts.
Child Surrogacy Laws in Illinois
Surrogacy agreements are legal agreements signed by a woman who agrees to carry a child (the “surrogate”) on the behalf of another person or couple (the “intended parents”). In the United States, child surrogacy is a common practice, and over 2,000 surrogate babies will be born in the U.S. this year. The confusions about what is an enforceable or unenforceable surrogacy agreement are typically complicated by the diverse range of opinions about surrogacy. These ranging opinions are often illustrated through the different state laws that govern and address surrogacy agreements.
A recent case in the news about a Connecticut surrogate illustrates how the different state laws can affect whether a surrogacy agreement is enforceable or unenforceable. In this case, a Connecticut woman was a surrogate to a child that was created with the intended father's sperm and an anonymous donor's egg. During a routine ultrasound when she was five months pregnant, it was discovered that the child she was carrying had heart defects, a cleft palate, and a brain cyst. The intended parents requested that the surrogate abort the child, and even offered $10,000 as incentive. Instead of terminating the pregnancy, the woman left Connecticut, where surrogacy agreements are enforceable, and moved to Michigan. She did this because in Michigan, surrogacy agreements are not enforceable. After giving birth to the child in Michigan, the surrogate was listed on the child's birth certificate as the child's mother, even though she was not genetically connected to the child.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Calls for Marijuana Decriminalization
Last year, Illinois became the 20th U.S. state to legalize medical marijuana use. Now, if Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has his way, the state will join California and Colorado in decriminalizing the use of marijuana for non-medicinal purposes. During an appearance before the Illinois General Assembly, Emanuel testified for over an hour about the need and benefits of lifting Illinois' non-medicinal marijuana use ban. Currently in Illinois the laws regarding marijuana possession are as follows:
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It is a Class C misdemeanor to possess 2.5 grams or less of a substance containing marijuana;
Illinois' Safe Haven Laws and Child Abandonment
Safe Haven laws often go unnoticed. However, every now and then in the news a case pops up about a newborn baby abandoned by a parent, and subsequently discovered by a citizen. Recently, a 17-year-old mother from Jacksonville, Illinois was arrested for abandoning her newborn infant in a trash bin. Safe haven laws were created to provide a safe alternative to child abandonment that does not make a criminal act to abandon a child and allows for the baby to be legally adopted.
Under Illinois safe haven law, the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act, a parent can anonymously and safely turn over their unwanted newborn baby to the police, medical professionals, firefighters and others, without any questions being asked. Since the creation of the law in 2001, the law has been used 98 times, but 72 illegal newborn abandonments have occurred in the state since the Illinois' safe haven law was implemented. In these cases, 35 of the children survived, but sadly 37 of these illegally abandoned children died before and after discovery.
Illinois Cases Highlight the Debate over HIV-Specific Criminal Laws
Here in Illinois, two cases have been in the media that have put a spotlight on Illinois law regarding the criminal transmission of HIV. Under Illinois law, a person who has HIV and engages in unprotected sex without first informing their partner that they are HIV-positive can be found guilty of committing a felony. Under this law, transmission of the HIV/AIDs disease does not have to occur for the HIV-positive partner to be found guilty of a felony. However, when prosecutors charge someone with breaking HIV-specific criminal laws, they must provide proof that the person who is HIV-positive intended to expose that person to HIV. One of the men now being tried under this law is subject to the old rules, which did not require that the HIV-positive transmitter actually intended to transmit the disease when engaging in intercourse or other activities.
Understanding Illinois' Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act
Sadly, Illinois is a state where fraud and deceptive business practices are a regular occurrence. Every day, the news media reports on new acts of fraud involving a wide range of actors including petty thieves, health care workers ,and even some of the most successful politicians and business people in the state. The Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (CFA) is the Illinois state statute that provides protections against fraud, deceptive business practices, and other white collar crimes. Claims of fraud can be brought in civil courts by private individuals who claim harm as a result of another's fraudulent conduct/activities. Furthermore, criminal fraud claims can brought by the Illinois Attorney General's Office.
Dissolution of Marriage in Illinois
Going through a divorce can be a stressful and difficult time in life. The situation can become even more intense when trying to understand the different legal rules and statutes that govern divorce proceedings.
Here in Illinois, a divorce is legally referred to as the dissolution of marriage. Couples can either dissolve a divorce via the formal dissolution process or through the Illinois Simplified Joint Dissolution process. Both processes make filing for divorce a relatively painless procedure, especially with the assistance of an experienced family law attorney. Below are a few factors and procedural requirements that you should be aware of if you are ready to file for divorce in Illinois.
New Illinois Law Offers Automatic Expungements for Juvenile Arrestees
Expungement is the legal process of removing a person's arrest record from the Illinois Department of State Police and the records of the arresting authority. The expungement process ensures that your name is removed from the Circuit Clerk official index, and thus law enforcement professionals and employers cannot view the record of your arrest. Expungement is a great option for any person who has been arrested for a crime that they were never tried for or convicted of in court.
Juvenile arrests have become a big issue in Illinois. Some of these young adults are arrested because of bad decisions, as well as socio-economic issues that put them at a disadvantage. An arrest record can be an additional disadvantage for a young adult looking for gainful employment or other means of turning their life around. Even if the arrested person is not tried and found guilty of the crime, the record of the arrest can still greatly impede a person's opportunity to find employment. In order to give juvenile arrestees in Illinois a leg up, Illinois had enacted a new law that will provide for the automatic expungement of any juvenile who has been arrested but never charged for a crime.
Is Illinois Finally Ready for Criminal Sentencing Reform?
A call for criminal sentencing reform at the state and local levels is being spearheaded by both Republicans and Democrats in Illinois. In the past, the raising of criminal sentencing standards was used to respond to particularly atrocious crimes. However, the ad hoc increase in criminal sentencing standards has been blamed by many as causing the overcrowding of prisons, and the unnecessary extension of incarceration based on sometimes arbitrary sentencing standards. In Illinois specifically, the occurrence of a particularly bad crime has often been met with sentence enhancements as an easy fix to the underlying problem. However, the extreme physical and financial limitations of Illinois' correctional and criminal justice systems has required Illinois legislatures to reevaluate the knee jerk reactions that have motivated past sentence enhancements.
New Bill May Provide Opportunities for Job Seekers With Criminal Backgrounds
Criminal histories have served as a significant barrier for past criminals looking for a new start. Currently, almost every standard employment application requires an applicant to list past criminal history, including convictions. No matter how long ago criminal acts were performed, those who truthfully respond to such questions typically have their applications thrown in the trash. However, the civil rights organizations in Illinois are hoping to change this. Under the proposed Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act, also known as the Ban-the-Box bill, job employers would not be able to question an applicant about criminal history until later in the employment process, after an employment application has been submitted.
The Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act
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