Property crimes are on the rise, especially around the holiday season. With car break-ins reportedly increasing this season, it follows that home break-ins and other acts of theft are more frequent than usual as well. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) estimates that approximately 400,000 burglaries occur in residences throughout the country in the months of November and December alone.

Types of Property and Theft Crimes in Illinois

Big trees fill the windows of our neighborhoods around this time, surrounded by the brightly colored and meticulously wrapped gifts waiting to be opened. These gifts can entice burglars, even if their contents are unknown. Burglary is a legal term that, in Illinois, means knowingly entering or without authority remaining in a building, intending to commit a felony or theft within the building. This is a class 2 felony property crimes that may lead to a maximum of three to seven years in jail. Other similar, and often as serious, crimes include possessing burglary tools, unlawful sale of burglary tools, or residential burglary.

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Many people are under the false impression that because medications can be obtained from a pharmacy, the prescribed drugs cannot be harmful to their health. Some of these people also do not understand the physical dangers or legal repercussions of taking, buying, selling, or possessing prescription drugs that were not prescribed specifically to them. Even though certain medications may be safe for the people to whom they are prescribed, they can cause significant damage to the health of those that take them without a valid prescription.

According to a 2013 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prescription drug overdoses have increased 400 percent for females and 265 percent among males over recent years. As such, the government has recognized prescription drug abuse, sale, and delivery a critical problem that must be criminalized. The Illinois government implemented the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program to provide an outlet to record prescription disbursements among patients and provide resources for those who may need help, but prescription drug distribution and abuse is still a monumental issue in Illinois.

Prescription Drug Law in Illinois

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The State of Illinois boasts some of the toughest gun-control laws in the country. In 2010, a controversial case stemming from Illinois litigation led to the United States Supreme Court. This decision, McDonald v. Chicago, placed an emphasis on Second Amendment Rights (where we get the “right to bear arms” from) and shut down what had been a long-standing ban on gun possession in certain areas. The Illinois legislature responded by implementing more stringent requirements for gun ownership, including requiring background checks, fingerprinting, fees, and mandatory gun training classes.

Despite the rules presently in place, gun violence is still a monumental problem on our Chicago streets. With more than 500 murders taking place on Chicago streets in 2012 alone, Chicago has some of the highest gun offense numbers in the country. Not only are the numbers high regarding murder rate, but also for unregistered weapons and unlawful possession. Also of grave concern is the fact that up to 60 percent of the unregistered or unlawfully obtained weapons found in Illinois are actually coming from other states, meaning it’s not necessarily that Illinois gun control laws are not working, but that people are still able to find ways around the laws.

Gun Charges in Illinois

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Being accused of a domestic violence crime is a severe allegation that can have a lasting impact on your personal, family, and professional life. Domestic violence has been at the forefront of media attention recently due to the fact that October was National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and that the Illinois State Legislature passed a new domestic violence law that will be effective January 1, 2015. The law is intended to protect victims of domestic violence and to emphasize enforcement of probation conditions after bail is set and a criminal defendant is released.

Named Diane’s Law after a controversial murder-suicide that occurred after a series of physical abuse, this new Illinois law seeks to ensure Orders of Protections are enforced by courts and aim to protecting victims from future abuse. Orders of Protection are often entered against an accused defendant to prevent him or her from contacting the victim when there is a reasonable fear of physical, emotional, or mental abuse. If you have domestic violence charges pending against you, it is critical to understand what your rights and responsibilities are under this and other relevant domestic violence laws.

What You Need to Understand About Domestic Violence Allegations

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The current driving under the influence (DUI) statute in Illinois, last revised in the 1980s, essentially implements a “zero tolerance” policy on driving with any amount of alcohol or substance in a driver’s system. The law will hold individuals that have even trace amounts of drugs in their system responsible for accidents they might not have even caused. A recent 2011 case involving a driver who ran a red light and killed a 10-year-old boy brought the controversial law into the limelight again, though the law had already upheld in two Illinois Supreme Court cases heard in 1994 and 2011.

Understanding the Law

The law, as written, means that if you are involved in an accident where someone is killed or seriously injured, you can be required to submit to a blood test to determine what substances you have in your system. Even if you have not ingested drugs in a month, as was the case for the man charged with an aggravated DUI, you may face criminal penalties. This may be true for any type of drug or controlled substance. The concern is that people are technically driving under the influence whether they are actually impaired at that moment or not.

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