720 ILCS 5/26-6 – Disorderly Conduct at a Funeral or Memorial Service
This law makes it illegal to disrupt a funeral or memorial service with loud noises, threats, or by blocking people from attending.
This Illinois law protects grieving families during funerals and memorials by stopping people from disturbing, threatening, or blocking others near these events. It punishes anyone who knowingly disrespects a funeral or its attendees.
(a) The reason for this law is to protect the peace and privacy of mourning families before, during, and after funerals or memorials because those moments are emotionally sensitive.
(b) This section defines key terms:
- “Funeral” means any ceremony, ritual, or service connected to burying, cremating, or remembering someone who has died.
- “Funeral site” means a place such as a church, mosque, synagogue, funeral home, cemetery, gravesite, or any location where a funeral is happening, has just finished within the last 30 minutes, or will start within the next 30 minutes.
(c) A person breaks this law if they knowingly do any of the following near a funeral site:
- Make loud noises such as singing, music, yelling, or using noise-making devices like bullhorns within 300 feet, if it can be heard at and bothers the funeral.
- Show signs or images within 300 feet of the funeral site that include threats or insulting “fighting words.”
- Block, slow down, or stop others from entering or leaving a funeral location, unless the property owner is legally asking people to leave.
(d) Sentence: The first time someone does this, it’s a Class C misdemeanor. Doing it again can lead to a Class 4 felony charge.
(e) If part of this law is found unconstitutional, the rest of it still stays in effect.
Contact us online or call (314) 900-HELP to talk with a Southern Illinois criminal defense lawyer.
