If you get charged with a crime, you’ve probably got a lot of questions.
Am I going to jail? To prison? What’s going to happen to my record? How will this affect my job or my future? What are the consequences of this?
But the biggest question thing you want to know is:
What are the chances I beat my case?
You’re told you have all these rights as a defendant. And they’re from the constitution, damnit! But you’re also told what can happen if you exercise those rights, aka don’t accept a plea from the prosecutor. You know the risks, you want guarantees. Of course, it’s your future on the line.
But here’s the catch. Any lawyer who gives you guarantees is only guaranteeing you one thing: you give them money. The fact is, there are no guarantees in criminal law. Only a risk/benefit analysis. The pivotal question is: do exercising those rights outweigh the risk given that facts.
Every case is different, every defendant’s background different, and the evidence is never the same. Saying every case is different sounds like some cliche lawyer line, but it’s not. Too many factors exist to guarantee you’re going to win your case. Just ask all the innocent people exonerated and released after decades in prison. More innocent people falsely confess to crimes and are wrongfully convicted in Cook County than anywhere else in the country.
Perhaps, in an effort to change this reputation and provide transparency to the administration of criminal justice, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx opened up the books in the first year of her office. In 2016, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office released the first ever annual report of the Cook County Felony criminal case filings and dispositions. Three years into her office, we have three years of hard numbers. This data paints a GENERAL picture of of the risk at trial and/or outcome of a Cook County felony case.
THE NUMBERS
Cook county files on average about 35,000 felony cases per year. For misdemeanor offenses, that number is in the hundreds of thousands. Below is a breakdown of how and where certain felonies, such as Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon, DUI and Aggravated Battery, are filed, as well as how they play out once they reach the courtroom. It does not address drug offenses, such as possession of a controlled substance or manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance. These types of offenses will be addressed in future postings.
TOTAL AGGRAVATED UUW (AGG. UUW) FELONY CASES CHARGED 2016-2018:
11,736
CITY vs. SUBURBS
| CITY | 78% |
| BURBS | 22% |
CASE RESULTS/DISPOSITIONS: 2016-2018
Total Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon (Agg UUW) cases resolved in 2016-2018: 9653
Plea: 69% (6648) resulted in a guilty plea
-includes guilty pleas to reduced & lesser included charges
Bench Trial:
Total: 1413
| Found Not Guilty | 60% |
| Found Guilty | 40% |
Jury Trial:
Total: 113
| NG | 54% |
| G | 46% |
DISMISSED:
14% (1385)
TOTAL DUI CASES CHARGED 2016-2018:
4865
CITY vs. SUBURBS
| CITY | 46% |
| BURBS | 54% |
CASE RESULTS/DISPOSITIONS: 2016-2018:
Total DUI (felony DUI & misdemeanor DUI) cases resolved in 2016-2018: 5030
Plea: 83% (4193) resulted in a guilty plea
-includes guilty pleas to reduced & lesser included charges
Bench Trial:
Total: 397
| Found Not Guilty | 45% |
| Found Guilty | 55% |
Jury Trial:
Total: 21
| NG | 38% |
| G | 62% |
DISMISSED:
3% (181)
TOTAL BURGLARY CASES CHARGED 2016-2018:
4586
CITY vs. SUBURBS
| CITY | 52% |
| BURBS | 48% |
CASE RESULTS/DISPOSITIONS: 2016-2018:
Total Burglary cases resolved in 2016-2018: 4400
Plea: 84% (3713) resulted in a guilty plea
-includes guilty pleas to reduced & lesser included charges
Bench Trial:
Total: 290
| Found Not Guilty | 19% |
| Found Guilty | 81% |
Jury Trial:
Total: 21
| NG | 33.3% |
| G | 66.6% |
DISMISSED:
6% (293)
TOTAL ROBBERY CASES CHARGED 2016-2018:
3596
CITY vs. SUBURBS
| CITY | 71% |
| BURBS | 29% |
CASE RESULTS/DISPOSITIONS: 2016-2018
Total Robbery cases resolved in 2016-2018: 3318
Plea: 80% (2657) resulted in a guilty plea
-includes guilty pleas to reduced & lesser included charges
Bench Trial:
Total: 343
| Found Not Guilty | 31% |
| Found Guilty | 69% |
Jury Trial:
Total: 38
| NG | 27% |
| G | 73% |
DISMISSED:
7% (244)
TOTAL AGGRAVATED BATTERY CASES CHARGED 2016-2018:
2859
*includes misdemeanor domestic battery & felony domestic battery
CITY vs. SUBURBS
| CITY | 50% |
| BURBS | 50% |
CASE RESULTS/DISPOSITIONS: 2016-2018:
Total Aggravated Battery/Domestic Battery cases resolved in 2016-2018: 2343
Plea: 78% (1831) resulted in a guilty plea
-includes guilty pleas to reduced & lesser included charges
Bench Trial:
Total: 267
| Found Not Guilty | 39% |
| Found Guilty | 61% |
Jury Trial:
Total: 36
| NG | 42% |
| G | 58% |
DISMISSED:
6% (158)
TOTAL MURDER CASES CHARGED 2016-2018
1316
CITY vs. SUBURBS
| CITY | 67% |
| BURBS | 33% |
CASE RESULTS/DISPOSITIONS: 2016-2108
Total Murder cases resolved in 2016-2018: 948
Plea: 52% (492) resulted in a guilty plea
-includes guilty pleas to reduced & lesser included charges
Bench Trial:
Total: 212
| Found Not Guilty | 22% |
| Found Guilty | 78% |
Jury Trial:
Total: 176
| NG | 17% |
| G | 83% |
DISMISSED:
7% (70)
Conclusion
This data covers 3 years of cases prosecuted by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, 3 years out of the 121 years of the history of that office. TO BE CLEAR: the above statistics are by no means a metric for the actual chances on YOUR case. In fact, they aren’t a complete picture of ALL the criminal cases in Cook County. For example, this article does not address narcotics/drug offenses, which at over 8,000 drug offense felony filings per year, are the largest single category of felony filings each year. Another popular felony offense not addressed is retail theft cases. The data on these types of cases will be addressed in further postings. However,the above data does reveal a snapshot of how some of the other most popular type of non drug, non retail theft, felony cases are playing out under Kim Foxx’s watch.
As stated in the beginning of this article, and bore out by the stats, there are no guarantees in criminal law. Only a risk/benefit analysis. Hiring a skilled, experience criminal defense attorney isn’t a guarantee, but it can be a gamechanger. When you’re charged with a crime, you’re already a statistic. Don’t find yourself in the losing stats of 2019 Cook County State’s Attorney’s annual report. We can help prevent that from happening. If you’ve been recently charged with a crime or have been fighting your case, call Robert Callahan & Associates and let’s talk about keeping you on the winning side of the stats. We did the numbers, we know the law, all you gotta do is call. 312 322 9000.
*All statistics from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office website: