ILCS » Chapter 720 · Act 5
Illinois Compiled Statutes

720 ILCS 5/29D-20 (2026)

Making a terrorist threat

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section IL-ILGAilga.gov JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar
(720 ILCS 5/29D-20)
    Sec. 29D-20. Making a terrorist threat.
    (a) A person is guilty of making a terrorist threat when, with the intent to intimidate or coerce a significant portion of a civilian population, he or she in any manner knowingly threatens to commit or threatens to cause the commission of a terrorist act as defined in Section 29D-10(1) and thereby causes a reasonable expectation or fear of the imminent commission of a terrorist act as defined in Section 29D-10(1) or of another terrorist act as defined in Section 29D-10(1).
    (b) It is not a defense to a prosecution under this Section that at the time the defendant made the terrorist threat, unknown to the defendant, it was impossible to carry out the threat, nor is it a defense that the threat was not made to a person who was a subject or intended victim of the threatened act.
    (c) Sentence. Making a terrorist threat is a Class X felony.
    (d) In addition to any other sentence that may be imposed, the court shall order any person convicted of making a terrorist threat involving a threat that a bomb or explosive device has been placed in a school to reimburse the unit of government that employs the emergency response officer or officers that were dispatched to the school for the cost of the search for a bomb or explosive device. For the purposes of this Section, "emergency response" means any incident requiring a response by a police officer, a firefighter, a State Fire Marshal employee, or an ambulance.
(Source: P.A. 96-413, eff. 8-13-09.)

    
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 6 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 2013–2024 · leading case: People v. Pederson, 2021 IL App (2d) 180554-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2021).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
People v. Pederson, 2021 IL App (2d) 180554-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2021). · cites it 5× “Pederson, was convicted of making a terrorist threat (720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a) (West 2014)) and sentenced to six years in prison.”
People v. Oduwole, 2013 IL App (5th) 120039 (Ill. App. Ct. 2013). “720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a) (West 2002). A terrorist act is defined, in pertinent part, as any act which is intended to cause or create a risk and does cause or create a risk of death or great bodily harm to one or more persons.”
United States v. Mintai Bedford (7th Cir. 2019). · cites it 3× “720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a). His supervised release was revoked, and he was sentenced to 47 months and 29 days in prison.”
United States v. Mintai Bedford (7th Cir. 2019). · cites it 3× “720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a). His supervised release was revoked, and he was sentenced to 47 months and 29 days in prison.”
United States v. Mintai Bedford (7th Cir. 2019). · cites it 3× “720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a). His supervised release was revoked, and he was sentenced to 47 months and 29 days in prison.”
People v. Pederson, 2024 IL App (2d) 240441-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2024). “on was great that defendant committed a detainable offense, and that defendant posed: “[A] real and present threat to the safety of Judge Nerheim based on specific articulable facts in this record being, again, the prior history between the two threats made by this defendant to…”
— 720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a) — 6 cases
People v. Pederson, 2021 IL App (2d) 180554-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2021). “Pederson, was convicted of making a terrorist threat (720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a) (West 2014)) and sentenced to six years in prison.”
People v. Oduwole, 2013 IL App (5th) 120039 (Ill. App. Ct. 2013). “720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a) (West 2002). A terrorist act is defined, in pertinent part, as any act which is intended to cause or create a risk and does cause or create a risk of death or great bodily harm to one or more persons.”
United States v. Mintai Bedford (7th Cir. 2019). “720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a). His supervised release was revoked, and he was sentenced to 47 months and 29 days in prison.”
United States v. Mintai Bedford (7th Cir. 2019). “720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a). His supervised release was revoked, and he was sentenced to 47 months and 29 days in prison.”
United States v. Mintai Bedford (7th Cir. 2019). “720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a). His supervised release was revoked, and he was sentenced to 47 months and 29 days in prison.”
— 720 ILCS 5/29D-20(b) — 1 case
People v. Pederson, 2021 IL App (2d) 180554-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2021). “Pederson, was convicted of making a terrorist threat (720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a) (West 2014)) and sentenced to six years in prison.”
— 720 ILCS 5/29D-20(c) — 1 case
People v. Pederson, 2021 IL App (2d) 180554-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2021). “Pederson, was convicted of making a terrorist threat (720 ILCS 5/29D-20(a) (West 2014)) and sentenced to six years in prison.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.