Offense Category
Deadly Weapons
What is it?
The illegal possession, sale or use of a gun, knife or other weapons.
What does our data show?
Unlike most types of cases, the number of felony weapons cases has risen slightly since 2000. In 2005, the armed habitual criminal state law went into effect. It criminalized being in possession of a gun after previously being convicted two or more times of certain felonies. The number of these cases tripled from 2006 to 2018. Illinois also has mandatory sentence enhancements of 15 to 25 years if a gun is possessed or used during the commission of certain other crimes, including robbery, kidnapping, murder or criminal sexual assault.
Charges
Detailed charts are unavailable for charges with fewer than 750 cases.
- Felony
- Misdemeanor
Race and Gender
This data shows that Black people make up the vast majority of criminal defendants charged in Cook County. Of the more than 3 million criminal cases filed in Cook County between 2000 and 2018, more than 61% were filed against Black people, even though Black people only make up 23% of the county’s population.
Research suggests the disparity has more to do with social inequity than an inherent link between race and criminality. Concentrated poverty in urban areas increases the likelihood of certain violent and property crimes, particularly in under-resourced, racially segregated communities. Black people are the most racially isolated group in Cook County and tend to live in communities where intergenerational poverty and violence, abetted by segregation, disinvestment, and institutionalized racism, have limited opportunities for many.
The disparities in charges also reflect inequities and racial bias in policing. Black people are disproportionately targeted for arrest. These numbers reflect overall trends seen in our era of mass incarceration, driven especially by law enforcement strategies such as Broken Windows policing, stop and frisk, disproportionate stops of Black drivers, and disparities in drug arrests.