Throw a Cigarette Butt on the Ground and You Could Face Three Years in Jail

In Illinois it looks like they've just about "Had It" with cigarette butts !!

They updated their Litter Control Act and you could get some serious fines and jail if caught !!

Some see this as a welcome relief while others may be seeing the implications of micro managing society.

Throw a Cigarette Butt on the Ground and You Could Face Three Years in Jail

Forget merely annoying others with bad manners: In Illinois, citizens who throw their finished cigarette on the ground are facing jail time – up to a whopping three years.

Illinois’s updated “Litter Control Act” will subject anyone who tosses a cigarette outside the trash to criminal penalties. The first offense now comes with a Class B misdemeanor and a fine of up to $1,500. The second time offense becomes a Class A misdemeanor. Three strikes and you’re a felon, facing from one year to three years behind bars and a $25,000 fine.

This isn’t merely petty—it’s pathological. Criminal convictions can deprive people of their liberty and ruin their lives. Criminal law should exist as a way to exact retribution for heinous wrongs and express moral outrage – not policing people who casually litter.

And even worse.....

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois' new law that makes flicking cigarettes out the window a felony and $25,000 fine for three or more offenses is attracting national attention, and further evaluation of Illinois' Litter Control Act shows the new butt-flicking ban could end up costing Illinois taxpayers.

Illinois' 1974 Litter Control Act, to which the word "cigarettes" was added to the list of banned litter items with State Rep Deborah Mell's HB 3243, has a section that holds property owners responsible for providing waste receptacles in which to dispose waste, such as now-included flicked cigarette butts.

"Butt-flicking" ban could end up costing Illinois taxpayers

reply to post by xuenchen


That is INSANE!!!

OMG.

What is WRONG with these people?

Litter!?

The WHOLE DAMN PLACE is litter. The concrete, the asphalt and everything else than makes up those urban centers, is far more 'polluting' than the cigarette butts.

Wow..

Big Mommy Gov once again.

~Tenth

reply to post by xuenchen


"ah ha ha. more prisoners for the machine......"

The manners police will be out soon.

reply to post by xuenchen


I hate governments because they're usualy power hungry, profit making, people crushing wastes of space, however I think they've got this right. They clearly don't want people doing it and who can blame them? Can kill smal animals, they don't degrade quickly and if you ever smell an ashtray, it isn't nice, even to a smoker.

Throwing sh*t around the place is just irresponsible, although I'm not sure if the $25,000 dollar fine or 3 years time fits the crime.

reply to post by xuenchen


nothing like a bit of revenue collection.....jail time for a 3rd offence....thats just plain retarded ...how about a bit of scab duty....simply make them clean up the town they are littering ( a community service).....law makers these days are just plain #

Anything to add more citizens to the rolls of the convicted felon.

This is something we should be reforming away from, not into....and looking at how we can limit felony crime to violent or predatory crime...not this penny ante horse puckey.

Someone could probably get less for mugging grandma on a street corner in Chicago. How utterly absurd.

Welcome to the future, Comrade Citizen.

Hey in Pennsylvania you don't even have to drink or be on anything to get a public intoxication the little "officers discretion" wording makes it to where if the cop says your public drunk you are and you can't fight it in court. Why? because the officer said so. Cop wants to pull you over whether you smoke or not, it obviously looked like you threw a butt out the window, prove you didn't do it whether you smoke or not.

I would rather step on a cig butt than ..eh..spit ... (you know what I'm talking about). .

People really should dispose of cig butts properly but between the two ~~ I'll take the butt.

Pretty crazy but then again these types of laws are usually more about revenue anyway. In Wash. State for example, it's over $1,000 fine but that's because they are worried about forest fires from littering.

Guess what? Throw a cigg but out the window three times and you can NEVER own a gun the rest of your life. Sounds silly but let me tell you this.......

I am 36 years old, when I was 17 I was with some friends that stole a purse and left 2 credit cards in a Mcdonalds bag in the back seat of my car, I was charged with felony possession of a stolen financial transaction device even though they were never used or even tried to be used. As a result of that charge, I am legally never allowed to own a gun, my entire life.

Say what you might but these laws, well, you see where they are heading, have headed and with the new presidential decree about mental illness, I think a lot of Americans are about to be miraculously declared "sick".

reply to post by xuenchen

Illinois’s updated “Litter Control Act” will subject anyone who tosses a cigarette outside the trash to criminal penalties. The first offense now comes with a Class B misdemeanor and a fine of up to $1,500. The second time offense becomes a Class A misdemeanor. Three strikes and you’re a felon, facing from one year to three years behind bars and a $25,000 fine.

Apparently Illinois despises the US Constitution as they are constantly in the news trying to circumvent it. I wonder if this could not be appealed under violation of the 8th amendment.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted

3 years imprisonment, $25K fines and making the culprit a felon seem excessive, cruel and unusual to me.

Sometimes it is necessary to take a tough line because people just don't care otherwise. Its the easiest thing not to toss your cig butt on the ground. Don't do it, then it doesn't matter if the penalty is the firing squad. What is it with people whining all the time?

tothetenthpower
reply to post by xuenchen

 

That is INSANE!!!

OMG.

What is WRONG with these people?

Litter!?

The WHOLE DAMN PLACE is litter. The concrete, the asphalt and everything else than makes up those urban centers, is far more 'polluting' than the cigarette butts.

Wow..

Big Mommy Gov once again.

~Tenth

private

prisions.. for the win .. as usual

Personally, I find really annoying when people trow their cigarettes out of their cars, especially if it's still lit.

I mean, I can s#*& on the floor which is a perfectly natural thing, yet, like my trash, I prefer to dispose of it without other people having to deal with the loitering.

I don't know if I would fine "evil smoking criminals" THAT much but loitering is civil disrespect and I don't feel like it's much to ask to dispose correctly of cigarettes.

I know most of you won't care and feel pretty badass when you are disposing unfashionably your personal masochist tool...and I really really do understand the whole situation and the feelings towards it.

I wouldn't go nazi and fine smokers for butting on the street but I can't say having the streets free of them wouldn't make me happier.

reply to post by xuenchen


I live out in the stix in IL now, and I'm still in the habit of pocketing hamburger condiment packs, much less field stripping cigarette butts... the latter's a waste of "the Lolapaloosa" or most potent part of the smoke. I recycle the LP's half and half with the new shag and smoke that for a couple of rounds. It's also why I act like this.

reply to post by xuenchen

Back in the wild 60's and 70's some of us did not want to be found.

What to do with your butts was solved by 'field dressing' the butt stripping the filter in very, tiny pieces as we walked .

We that were living the hippie life had more time than anything else so it was something to do to pass the time and dare we litter.

I quit smoking 3 years ago and am one of those that threw the butts down where ever I desired after my hippie life ceased and I had to work for a living.

Someone needs to invent a butt box small enough for purse or pocket made out of tin or ceramic material with a secure lid.
When full the contents could be put in a trash can.

Back when people used small boxes of matches butts were put in with the matches and thrown away later in the proper place.
Love and peace to all.

Wow, I think that's a bit excessive. When I was a smoker, I would always dispose of my butts properly. Since they can cause grass fires here in Texas, I can understand fines for throwing lit ones out of the car window, but jail time is just crazy.

I am a smoker, and I hate people that toss them out the windows or on sidewalks etc. I keep a small tuperware thingie in my car to put butts in(stops it from stinking the car up). I strip the paper off them and toss them in a bag. When I got a boatload I melt them down and mold them into useful things.

And you know what really sucks. You are driving down the highway on your motorcycle and get pelted with a lit butt. Worse case the sucker has gone down my shirt collar. Seriously, that sucks, not everyone is in a nice protected cage lol. throwing butts all over the place smokers!

That said, I think they are being a bit over the top. I could see a $100 fine everytime you get busted. Like many fines, it will be used as a weapon probably sadly. Cop pulls a guy over salivating thinking "This dude probably has drugs" Don't find anything, "Oh here is your ticket for tossing that butt out the window". Good luck disputing the fine.

Speaking as an actual smoker, I am perfectly fine with this. There is no reason to be throwing your extinguished butts on the ground. If there is not an empty receptacle for them they should go into your pocket. Anything less is pure laziness and self absorption.

EA006
reply to post by xuenchen

 

"ah ha ha. more prisoners for the machine......"

The manners police will be out soon.

all demolition man everywhere you go :/
((language warning))

I say we install the first one in the back rooms of congress. we could pay the national debt off in short order LOL