Data In-Depth
The Charges
By Bea Malsky, Jared Rutecki, Emily Hoerner, Forest Gregg, Trina Reynolds-Tyler, Jean Cochrane, Hannah Cushman Garland, Sam McAlilly and Abby Blachman
This is a detailed breakdown of more than 3 million criminal cases filed in Cook County between 2000 and 2018. That’s more than 400 cases per day.
In a first-of-its-kind project, The Circuit collected and cleaned millions of records from the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County’s mainframe computer system. We then analyzed these cases and organized them based on the top, or most serious, charge.
The charts below show the number of cases that prosecutors filed broken down into major categories, from battery and possession of deadly weapons to disorderly conduct and violating controlled substances laws. They also distinguish between misdemeanor charges and felony charges within those categories.
Click ‘read more’ under each category below to see a more detailed breakdown of the types of cases that fall within that category, as well as racial, ethnic and gender breakdowns of those charges. For example, if you click homicide, you’ll see a steady decline in first-degree murder charges since 2000. If you click burglary, you’ll see that most of these cases are felonies.
- Felony
- Misdemeanor
Click column titles to sort. Click arrows on left to expand offense descriptions.
Offense Category | Total Cases | Cases Over Time | |
---|---|---|---|
↓ | Battery | 532,830 cases | |
What is it? Intentionally causing bodily injury or making harmful contact with another individual. What does our data show? Domestic battery cases remain the most used within this offense category. But reflecting the steady decrease in overall cases across Cook County, domestic battery cases have decreased by more than 40% between 2000 and 2018. While the number of aggravated domestic battery cases is significantly smaller, cases in which that was the top charge have increased significantly in that time. | |||
↓ | Controlled Substances Act | 430,806 cases | |
What is it? Production, distribution and/or possession of certain narcotics and other drugs. What does our data show? Drug cases under the Controlled Substances Act dropped by about two-thirds from 2000 to 2018. The vast majority of these cases, about 95%, are felonies. | |||
↓ | Other Offenses | 412,468 cases | |
What is it? A catchall category for cases that don’t fit into the other categories, from violating an order of protection to unlawful use of body armor. What does our data show? This category includes felony and misdemeanor cases in which the top charge does not fall into the Illinois State Police’s categorized charges or cases in which we were unable to discern which charge the court data referred to. | |||
↓ | Criminal Damage and Trespass to Property | 384,482 cases | |
What is it? Damaging or entering the property of another person without permission. What does our data show? Trespassing is a misdemeanor in most cases, except those involving nuclear facilities or sports, theater or entertainment venues. Misdemeanor criminal trespass cases have dropped by 70% since 2005, but the small number of felony cases has remained steady. Trespassing differs from burglary in that it does not involve theft or another felony. | |||
↓ | Cannabis Control Act | 351,665 cases | |
What does our data show? Much, though not all, of this law was made moot when marijuana was legalized in 2020, though police continued to make arrests for possession of more than the legally allowed amount or illicit distribution, according to The Chicago Reporter. The number of marijuana cases reached a peak of about 28,000 in 2007 — or more than 75 each day — before dropping by more than 80% in the years since. About half of the cannabis-related cases we found were for misdemeanor possession of 10 to 100 grams, while another third of cases were for possession of less than 10 grams. A 2016 law signed by Bruce Rauner that decriminalized possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana was followed by a decrease in low-level possession cases in Cook County. | |||
→ | Theft | 325,569 cases | |
→ | Assault | 118,027 cases | |
→ | Disorderly Conduct | 92,175 cases | |
→ | Motor Vehicle Offenses | 73,960 cases | |
→ | Deadly Weapons | 72,437 cases | |
→ | Deceptive Practices | 67,271 cases | |
→ | Sex Offenses | 56,981 cases | |
→ | Burglary | 53,530 cases | |
→ | Interference with Public Officers | 49,052 cases | |
→ | Robbery | 34,124 cases | |
→ | Drug Paraphernalia Control Act | 29,264 cases | |
→ | Gambling | 26,418 cases | |
→ | Motor Vehicle Theft | 15,340 cases | |
→ | Liquor Control Act Violations | 13,700 cases | |
→ | Offenses Involving Children | 11,194 cases | |
→ | Homicide | 7,812 cases | |
→ | Criminal Sexual Assault | 7,646 cases | |
→ | Violation of Criminal Registry Laws | 7,399 cases | |
→ | Burglary or Theft From Motor Vehicle | 4,190 cases | |
→ | Kidnapping | 3,046 cases | |
→ | Hypodermic Syringes and Needles Act | 2,264 cases | |
→ | Arson | 1,510 cases | |
→ | Methamphetamine Offenses | 1,419 cases | |
→ | Intimidation | 1,193 cases |
Offense categories with fewer than 750 total cases are not shown.