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Illinois Compiled Statutes

720 ILCS 5/12-20.5 (2026)

Dismembering a human body

✓ current as of May 2026
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(720 ILCS 5/12-20.5)
    Sec. 12-20.5. Dismembering a human body.
    (a) A person commits dismembering a human body when he or she knowingly dismembers, severs, separates, dissects, or mutilates any body part of a deceased's body.
    (b) This Section does not apply to:
        (1) an anatomical gift made in accordance with the
    
Illinois Anatomical Gift Act;
        (2) (blank);
        (3) the purchase or sale of drugs, reagents, or other
    
substances made from human body parts, for the use in medical or scientific research, treatment, or diagnosis;
        (4) persons employed by a county medical examiner's
    
office or coroner's office acting within the scope of their employment while performing an autopsy;
        (5) the acts of a licensed funeral director or
    
embalmer while performing acts authorized by the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing Code;
        (6) the acts of emergency medical personnel or
    
physicians performed in good faith and according to the usual and customary standards of medical practice in an attempt to resuscitate a life; or
        (7) physicians licensed to practice medicine in all
    
of its branches or holding a visiting professor, physician, or resident permit under the Medical Practice Act of 1987, performing acts in accordance with usual and customary standards of medical practice, or a currently enrolled student in an accredited medical school in furtherance of his or her education at the accredited medical school.
    (c) It is not a defense to a violation of this Section that the decedent died due to natural, accidental, or suicidal causes.
    (d) Sentence. Dismembering a human body is a Class X felony.
(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11.)

    
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 2020–2025 · leading case: People v. Keys, 2023 IL App (4th) 210630 (Ill. App. Ct. 2023).
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People v. Keys, 2023 IL App (4th) 210630 (Ill. App. Ct. 2023). · cites it 5× “19-CF-732, and dismembering a human body (720 ILCS 5/12-20.5(a) (West 2016)) and concealment of a homicidal death (720 ILCS 5/9-3.”
People v. Keys, 2025 IL 130110 (Ill. 2025). “” 720 ILCS 5/12-20.5(a) (West 2016). ¶ 96 Defendant argues that the dismemberment statute does not reveal a clear intent to separately penalize multiple acts of dismembering the same human body and thus lenity requires the statute be construed in his favor.”
People v. Gutierrez, 2020 IL App (1st) 180496-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2020). · cites it 3× “¶2 Following a jury trial, defendant, Salvador Gutierrez, was found guilty of dismembering a human body (720 ILCS 5/12-20.5 (West 2016)) and concealment of homicidal death (720 ILCS 5/9-3.”
— 720 ILCS 5/12-20.5(a) — 2 cases
People v. Keys, 2023 IL App (4th) 210630 (Ill. App. Ct. 2023). “19-CF-732, and dismembering a human body (720 ILCS 5/12-20.5(a) (West 2016)) and concealment of a homicidal death (720 ILCS 5/9-3.”
People v. Keys, 2025 IL 130110 (Ill. 2025). “” 720 ILCS 5/12-20.5(a) (West 2016). ¶ 96 Defendant argues that the dismemberment statute does not reveal a clear intent to separately penalize multiple acts of dismembering the same human body and thus lenity requires the statute be construed in his favor.”
— 720 ILCS 5/12-20.5(d) — 2 cases
People v. Keys, 2023 IL App (4th) 210630 (Ill. App. Ct. 2023). “19-CF-732, and dismembering a human body (720 ILCS 5/12-20.5(a) (West 2016)) and concealment of a homicidal death (720 ILCS 5/9-3.”
People v. Gutierrez, 2020 IL App (1st) 180496-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2020). “¶2 Following a jury trial, defendant, Salvador Gutierrez, was found guilty of dismembering a human body (720 ILCS 5/12-20.5 (West 2016)) and concealment of homicidal death (720 ILCS 5/9-3.”
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