While most people were out enjoying the Memorial Day weekend, state lawmakers were hard at work in Springfield attempting to reach agreements on a host of issues from the budget and enhanced protections for immigrants to automatic voter registration and criminal law...
The federal prosecution of a former United States congressman from Illinois could take months to complete. This is particularly true where the charges involve 24 counts of the misuse of government and campaign money for personal use. The prosecution involves former...
In recognition of the fact that Illinois' prison population had spiked dramatically over the last four decades from less than 10,000 inmates to roughly 49,000, Governor Bruce Rauner signed an executive order back in February 2015 calling for the creation of the...
Federal authorities are intent on arresting child pornographers and sex traffickers. The accused will face a long prison sentence if convicted of these felonies, and often, a virtual lifetime of reporting as a sex offender thereafter. The law, however, does not...
When you hear that someone was charged with a misdemeanor, you know that they did something wrong. But the name implies that though their act was criminal in nature, it wasn't so bad that it deserved the full force of the criminal justice system. Compare this to when...
We are continuing our discussion of grand juries, focusing, for the most part, on state and county grand juries. The rules for federal cases are different, most notably by virtue of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. If someone is accused of a federal felony (a...
Almost everyone who lives in Chicago knows at least a little about the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. Even if they are not familiar with the name, the mere mention of video recording of the teen being shot by the cop will garner an "Aha." They may know, then, that...
There are actually a couple of ways to commit mortgage fraud. Overall, the criminal act is lying on a mortgage application about a material fact -- some important piece of information about you or the property -- that influences the lender's decision. As with most...
In the past 10 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has tackled juvenile offender sentencing questions a few times. Each decision has been a step away from imposing the harshest sentences available on minors who have been convicted of the most serious crimes. This week, the...
Attempting to conceal the source of money made through criminal enterprises by trying to send it through legitimate businesses is referred to as money laundering. This is a serious crime and one that federal and state law enforcement agencies investigate very...
