Our lawyers at O’Dekirk, Allred, and Associates in Joliet understand that serving a prison sentence can negatively affect your life. That’s why we wanted to let you know about a new Illinois sentencing law that will be effective as of January 1.
As you may know, both misdemeanor and felony convictions come with the possibility of imprisonment. Misdemeanor sentences can include up to one year in prison and a fine of $2,500. Felonies have the potential of much longer prison times.
The new sentencing law, Public Act 99-0861, was recently signed by the governor of Illinois. This law is just one of many criminal justice reforms that will be enforced as of January 1.
This new law states that Illinois judges will be required to specifically justify sentencing an offender to prison or periodic imprisonment for Class 3 or Class 4 felonies if they have never previously received probation or conditional discharge and their crime statutorily allows for probation or a conditional discharge sentence.
The new law also requires a pre-sentence report, and the court must show on the record why probation or conditional discharge is not an appropriate sentence.
Simply put, this means if you’re convicted of a crime that allows for probation or conditional discharge and you’ve never been given this type of sentence previously, the judge must explicitly justify a prison sentence in writing.
Here’s what the law (Public Act 99-0861) says:
The new Illinois sentencing law requires the court: “(i)n imposing a sentence of imprisonment or periodic imprisonment for a Class 3 or Class 4 felony for which a sentence of probation or conditional discharge is an available sentence, if the defendant has no prior sentence of probation or conditional discharge and no prior conviction for a violent crime, the defendant shall not be sentenced to imprisonment before review and consideration of a pre-sentence report and determination and explanation of why the particular evidence, information, factor in aggravation, factual finding, or other reasons support a sentencing determination that … probation or conditional discharge is not an appropriate sentence.”
Our lawyers at O’Dekirk, Allred, and Associates in Joliet know that it is very common for Class 3 or Class 4 offenders to be sentenced to probation or conditional discharge. However, when a higher class felony is reduced to a Class 3 or 4, we’ve noticed that sentencing tends to be harsh and often includes imprisonment.
With this new Illinois sentencing law, the court must justify the prison sentence if the offender had no prior sentence of probation or conditional discharge. It’s possible that this will compel judges to meticulously consider all facts of the case prior to handing down a sentence.
If you are facing either a misdemeanor or felony charge with the possibility of imprisonment and would like to know more about the new Illinois sentencing law, please don’t hesitate to contact O’Dekirk, Allred, and Associates today.