1. Citation Authority. In
addition to imposing the
statutory obligation on all
law enforcement officers to
enforce the laws against
illegal dumping, Section 44
(l) of the Act expressly au-thorizes
the issuance of
citations for such viola-tions.
Apprehended viola-tors
may thus be immedi-ately
charged and sub-jected
to the jurisdiction of
the local court in much the
same way as serious traffic
and conservation violations
are handled. The prosecu-tor
may decide to amend
the citation or file additional
charges.
2. Extended Statute of
Limitations. Section 44(p)
felony violations of the
Act are subject to an ex-tended
statute of limitations
(5 years) pursuant to Crimi-nal
Code Section 3-6(f),
720 ILCS 5/3-6(f). Regard-less
of when the dumping
occurred, the statute of
limitations does not begin
until the offense is discov-ered
by or reported to a
state or local agency hav-ing
the authority to investi-gate
violations.
3. Enhanced Penalties.
Illegal dumping violations
are subject to the standard
provisions of the Unified
Code of Corrections misde-meanor
and felony sen-tences,
fines and restitution
(730 ILCS 5). In addition,
Section 44(a) misde-meanor
violations of Sec-tion
21 (open dumping of
waste) and Section 55(a)
(open dumping of used and
waste tires) carry an addi-tional
allowable sentence
of up to 300 hours of com-munity
service work.
Class 4 felony violations of
Section 44(p)(1)(a) (unper-mitted
storage, treatment
or disposal of more than
250 cubic feet of waste) is
subject to an additional fine
of $25,000 for each day of
violation. (A second or
subsequent violation is a
Class 3 felony with an ad-ditional
fine of $50,000 per
day of violation.)
4. Corporate Account-ability.
Per Criminal Code Section
5-4(a)(1), 720 ILCS 5/5-4
(a)(1), if illegal dumping is
committed by a corporate
employee or agent while
acting in the scope of em-ployment,
the corporation
may also be held criminally
responsible without the
necessity of proof that the
dumper acted in accor-dance
with corporate policy
or management direction.
5. Significant Forfeiture
Provisions.
Finally, Section 44.1(a) of
the Act provides that in
addition to all other civil
and criminal penalties pro-vided
by law, any person
convicted of a criminal vio-lation
of the Act shall forfeit
to the State an amount
equal to the value of all
profits earned, savings re-alized,
and benefits in-curred
as direct or indirect
result of such violation, and
any vehicle or conveyance
used in the perpetration of
such violation. By statute,
30% of all monies forfeited
tentially harm someone
who comes into contact
with them. Biological haz-ards
may be present, such
as used syringes or other
discarded medical use
items. Mosquitoes that
carry encephalitis or West
Nile Virus may breed in
standing water held by dis-carded
items.
Illegal dumps often present
physical hazards with bro-ken
glass, sharp metal ob-jects
protruding from the
ground or on discarded
items, and appliances in
which children may be
trapped.
There may be disposed
chemicals that would po-
What advantages are there to prosecuting an illegal dumper under
state law as opposed to a local ordinance?
What are the potential health issues related to dumps?
Page 3
Chemical containers found at the Mark-ham
site, April 2010.
ANY PERSON
CONVICTED OF A
CRIMINAL
VIOLATION OF THE
ACT SHALL
FORFEIT TO THE
STATE AN
AMOUNT EQUAL
TO THE VALUE OF
ALL PROFITS
EARNED...
goes directly to the law
enforcement agency that
investigated the violation,
30% goes directly to the
office of the Attorney Gen-eral
or the State’s Attorney
(whichever prosecuted the
case), and the remainder
goes into the State of Illi-nois
Hazardous Waste
Fund to be used for ongo-ing
enforcement of environ-mental
protection laws.
