Recent Blog Posts
Juvenile Crime: Even Minor Offenses Can Have Huge Impact on Your Child’s Future
All too often, good kids get involved with a bad crowd and end up getting into trouble with the law. The crimes are usually the result of a moment of poor judgement (sometimes very poor judgement), but are not overly serious offenses. When teens get arrested for acts of vandalism, such as defacing property or damaging property, it can upset the whole family and can affect the teen’s life in unforeseen ways in the future.
Defacement of Property
One of the most common crimes committed by teens involves acts of vandalism or the defacement of property through graffiti art, marking or painting someone else’s property. Teens can face serious consequences, under 720 ILCS 5/21-1.3, if they are caught by police. For instance:
- A first offense that causes less than $300 worth of damage is a Class B misdemeanor, and is punishable by a fine of up to $1,500 and up to six months of jail time;
Flaws in the System: Wrongful Convictions
In many high-profile criminal cases, the court of public opinion will decide on a defendant’s guilt long before a trial ever begins. In fact, you can probably think of several examples in which you “knew” a famous suspect was guilty or not guilty of a violent crime simply based your impressions. American society, however, places a great deal of faith in the criminal justice system and, for the most part, if a defendant is convicted in court, the general public tends to believe he or she committed the crime. But what if he or she did not and was convicted anyway? Sadly, wrongful convictions sometimes ruin the lives of innocent people, and some of the reasons behind flawed verdicts may surprise you.
Factors of Wrongful Convictions
A recent study funded by the National Institute of Justice and conducted by a team from American University in Washington, D.C., looked at more than 450 cases to identify the factors that could contribute to a defendant being wrongfully convicted. In each case, the defendant, whether convicted or not, was later found to be factually innocent of the crime of which he or she was accused. The researchers, led by Dr. Jon B. Gould, J.D., director of the Washington Institute for Public and International Affairs Research at American University, compared the cases of wrongful convictions with those in which an innocent suspect was found not guilty or had the charges dismissed.
Drive Sober: DUI and Seatbelt Campaigns Get Final Summer Push
As summer draws to a close in northern Illinois, law enforcement officials in a number of area municipalities are ramping up safe driving enforcement activities. This comes as part of a nationwide effort to crack down on drunk driving, along with a continued focus on ensuring drivers are using seatbelts. The highly-publicized campaign got underway last weekend and will continue through the Labor Day holiday on September 7.
National DUI Awareness
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has invested more than $13 million in advertising and public awareness to spread the word about this focused operation. It comes as part of the NHTSA’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, aimed at reducing accidents and injuries related to driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs. More than 10,000 local police departments throughout the country are expected to participate in the effort, including many in the Chicagoland region. There is expected to be zero tolerance for driving with blood alcohol content (BAC) above the legal limit of .08 percent. The NHSTA wants you to know that if you drive drunk, you will be arrested.
Consequences of Driving with a Suspended or Revoked License
When your driver’s license has been suspended or revoked, it can become a significant inconvenience for you. You cannot drive yourself places and may have to rely on others for help.
Some people think that they can drive on a suspended or revoked license, just so long as they do not get caught. However, doing so could, in fact, lead to significant penalties and lasting repercussions on the driver’s life.
Being Caught Driving with a Suspended or Revoked License
Illinois law 625 ILCS 5/6-303 prohibits an Illinois driver from operating a motor vehicle while his or her driver’s license is suspended or revoked. As such, drivers face a number of consequences when they are caught driving on a suspended or revoked license, and penalties for doing so vary based on why the driver’s license was suspended or revoked in the first place, and whether this is a first, second, third or subsequent offense.
New Guidelines Regarding Relocation with Your Child
As the primary residential parent, you have taken on a great deal of responsibility for the well-being of your child. In an ideal world, the other parent would remain cooperative in your joint efforts in raising the child, or, at the very least, stay current on child support and exercise visitation rights. Reality, however, is not always ideal, and, in some cases, the best option for you and your child may lie in pursuing opportunities out of town or, sometimes, out of state. If you are already considering such a move, it is important to be aware of changes to parental relocation laws that are set to take effect in January, as the new provisions could greatly impact your necessary steps.
Current Laws Affect Out-Of-State Moves
Existing provisions in Illinois law require you to seek the other parent’s consent if you wish move with your child to a new home outside of the state. Once you have obtained permission, you will need to notify the court overseeing your custody order. If the other parent will not allow the move, you may seek the court’s override, but you will be required to prove that the move is in the best interest of the child and that you are acting in good faith.
Criminal Sentencing: How Much Time Does One Serve?
When a person is facing criminal charges one of the primary concerns he or she has is how much prison time is possible. Every crime has a set punishment or range of possible punishments, but in our society that really does not tell us much. Each state is different and has its own complicated systems. Some states have parole; some states do not have parole. Some decrease sentences for good behavior, while others may not. Some have conditional release while others do not. This makes it extremely unlikely that someone who has not gone through the criminal process in a particular state will understand exactly how much time he or she is facing.
Illinois Does Not Have Parole
As a general rule, Illinois does not have a system of parole. Parole is a system where an inmate serves part of his or her sentence and then goes before a board who decides whether he or she should stay in prison or be granted an early release. A person granted parole faces restrictions similar to those on probation until his or her entire sentence is served either in prison or on parole. Illinois used to have a parole system; however, in the 1970s the legislature did away with it. What this means is that there are a few people who were convicted of crimes decades ago that still have a right to parole hearings and who may possibly be granted parole. And, if you commit a crime in Illinois now and you are convicted, you will not be eligible for parole. In addition, crimes in Illinois do often come with a term of supervised release. This is similar to parole, in that it is a period of supervision that comes after incarceration, but it is for a set term of years and does not result in early release.
Governor Expresses Support for Marijuana Decriminalization, Vetoes Bill
The latest chapter in the ongoing story to reduce the population of overcrowded Illinois prisons unfolded in a rather anticlimactic fashion last week, as a bipartisan measure to decriminalize minor possession of marijuana was vetoed by Governor Bruce Rauner. Despite his ongoing efforts to help the prison system become effective, Rauner believed that the bill, in its current form, is a little too lenient and that the amount of marijuana to be considered decriminalized needs to be lowered. The governor did indicate, however, that he supports the legislation’s intended goals, but that such changes "must be made carefully and incrementally."
Goals of the Bipartisan Legistlation
As passed by the House and Senate earlier this year, the proposed law would make possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana a civil offense, similar to a traffic ticket. Rather than facing criminal prosecution, an offender would be required to pay a fine ranging from $55 to $125. The bill also sought to relax the state’s current zero-tolerance law regarding marijuana and driving under the influence. Under current statutes, a driver can be charged with DUI for showing any trace of cannabis in his or her system regardless of impairment or how long ago it was ingested. Lawmakers looked to establish an impairment standard, similar to a blood alcohol content limit, of 15 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood.
What is Conditional Discharge?
Nearly everyone has heard of imprisonment as a possible sentence for a crime, and most people have heard of probation. But there is one unique resolution to criminal charges in Illinois that is unfamiliar to many throughout the state: “conditional discharge.” In addition to this, Illinois allows for another type of punishment, as well, known as “court supervision.”
What is Conditional Discharge?
Conditional discharge is a sentence that a judge can impose if they believe that neither a sentence of imprisonment nor one of periodic imprisonment or probation supervision is appropriate. Conditional discharge is similar to probation in that there are certain conditions you must comply with in order to keep your freedom, but it is different in that you do not have to report to or be supervised by a probation officer. The monitoring is done by the court instead of by a probation officer. Conditional discharge results in a conviction on your record. If you violate the terms of your conditional discharge and you get caught then the prosecutor can file a motion to revoke your conditional discharge. They do not have to prove you violated your conditional discharge beyond a reasonable doubt in the way they would have to prove a criminal charge. Instead, they must only prove it by a preponderance of the evidence. If the prosecution is successful, you could wind up with additional terms being added to your conditional discharge, or you could wind up in jail.
Transmuted Property: Changing the Disposition of an Asset
As a marriage comes to an end and the spouses begin to consider divorce, they must start to identify the property and assets that constitute the marital estate. This is an important part of the process, as a recent post on this blog discussed, because any and all owned property must be classified as a marital or non-marital asset for the purposes of property division. What may be surprising, however, is that property that was once non-marital can become marital property through a process called transmutation, effectively allowing it to be divided in divorce.
What is Non-Marital Property?
The Illinois property division laws provide a pretty clear description of assets that are considered to be non-marital. As you might expect, property that was acquired before the marriage-and not obtained "in anticipation" of marriage-is not a marital asset. In addition, non-marital property also included assets acquired after the marriage by means of:
Perjury in Illinois
When a person is facing criminal charges, the temptation and incentive to lie can be overwhelming. Very few people want to go to prison or want to be on probation, so many people try their hardest to talk their way out of trouble. Sometimes that talking involves lying. That lying, depending on the circumstances, can result in serious criminal charges, including perjury charges.
What Is Perjury?
If you have been involved in a trial or ever seen a court show on television, you have seen the process of swearing in, during which the witness is asked, “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” The witness always responds with “I do,” or “yes,” or some other affirmative answer. With the possible exception of some witnesses who are asserting their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, witnesses rarely respond “No.” Yet, some witnesses lie. When a witness swears to tell the truth and then fails to do so, the question becomes whether he or she has committed the very serious offense of perjury.
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