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Understanding Assault and Battery Charges
Being arrested and charged with a violent crime can turn an individual's entire life upside down. Two of the most common violent crimes in Illinois are assault and battery. Assault and battery are often charged together. Even though the terms assault and battery are used in everyday language to mean the same thing, legally they are two very different concepts.
The Difference Between Assault and Battery
Under Illinois law, you commit the crime of assault when you place someone else in reasonable apprehension or fear of physical harm. You do not have to have actually harmed, or even touched, an individual to be charged with assault. Making a threatening gesture or raising a fist can be enough to result in assault charges.
Bad Checks, Check Fraud, and Deceptive Practices
If you bounce a check, it may result in more than just an issue with your bank and the retailer you tried to pay. You may find yourself under arrest and charged with a crime. Even though fewer and fewer people use paper checks, people are charged with different crimes relating to writing bad checks every year.
When is Writing a Bad Check More Than Just a Civil Issue?
When a merchant receives notice that your check bounced, he or she may decide to report you to law enforcement. Writing a check when there are not sufficient funds in your account for the check to clear may fall under the Illinois category of crimes known as deceptive practices.
The law presumes that you knew your check would bounce if there was not sufficient funds in your account when you wrote or delivered the check. You will have the chance to rebut this presumption with your own evidence.
Understanding Illinois Stalking Crimes
Stalking is considered a domestic violence crime in Illinois. There are several different offenses that are considered stalking crimes. Sometimes the line between legal, yet annoying and offensive behavior, and behavior that is illegal and considered stalking can be hard to determine.
What is Stalking?
Stalking is when you follow someone or put him or her under surveillance more than once and you threaten, or cause, him or her to fear being physically harmed, sexually assaulted or confined. Stalking does not have to be done in person.
Illinois has a cyberstalking crime that covers behavior online and over cell phones. You can be charged with cyberstalking even if you have never spoken to the victim.
Difference Between Stalking Order and Stalking Crime
What Happens When You Speed in a Construction Zone?
Some of the harshest penalties for traffic violations are reserved for construction zones. People may be tempted to just pay the expensive fine and move on. However, that may not be your best option.
Consequences for Speeding in a Constriction Zone
The fine for a first offense when speeding in a construction zone is a minimum of $375. The fine may be even more, depending on how fast you were driving in the construction zone.
If you are cited for speeding in a construction zone for a second time, then the minimum fine is $1,000. Just as with a first offense, the fine can be even more, depending on your speed. If you are cited a second time for speeding in a construction zone within two-years of your first citation, you will also have your driver’s license suspended for 90 days.
Why You Shouldn’t Worry About “Looking Guilty” When Exercising Your Rights
When confronted by law enforcement, many people worry about exercising their rights—they do not want to "look guilty." However, this is the wrong way to look at one's rights. Once you better understand what your rights are and why they are important, the better prepared you will be if you are ever investigated or arrested for a crime.
Understanding Law Enforcement’s Perspective
The police and other law enforcement agencies are charged with upholding the law. Part of their job is to investigate crimes, arrest the suspected criminals, and collect evidence for prosecutors to use in a criminal trial.
When you are contacted by law enforcement, you do not know if they are investigating a crime or collecting evidence. Law enforcement officers do not have to tell you if they think you are guilty of a crime.
What is Computer Tampering?
Not all crimes occur face-to-face. Certain crimes, such as computer tampering, can occur from anywhere over the Internet. Illinois law provides serious consequences for anyone convicted of tampering with someone else’s computer.
How Illinois Defines Computer Tampering
Computer tampering is unauthorized access to programs, data, or the computer, and it uses the access for fraudulent purposes or to damage another computer, data or program. This covers a wide range of activities. Computer tampering could include illegal sharing of movies and music or pranks such as changing the content of a website.
You can even be convicted of computer tampering if you have authorized access to a computer or network, if your actions exceed your authorization. In some cases, computer tampering charges will be brought in addition to other charges. For example, someone who is in charge of payroll can be charged with theft and computer tampering if they use their access to a computer to increase their paychecks when they were not authorized to do so.
What it Means to be Sentenced to Probation
Not every guilty plea or verdict of guilty means jail or prison time. Many people convicted of crimes will instead be sentenced to probation.
While for many probation is better than serving time behind bars, there are still serious consequences to a criminal conviction and probation term.
Length of Sentence
Probation is often an alternative to time behind bars. However, most probations sentences are backed by threat of jail or prison time if the probation terms are not kept.
Some offenders will be given a suspended sentence. This means that they are sentenced to a period of incarceration, but that sentence is not actually executed if the offender complies with probation.
It is possible for an offender to spend more time on probation than they would spend behind bars depending on the crime and the level of compliance with the terms of probation.
Consequences of Shoplifting and Retail Theft in Illinois
Most people would consider shoplifting to be a minor crime, but even small time theft like shoplifting can have serious consequences. Shoplifting and other types of retail theft involves more than just taking something without paying for it.
Different Types of Retail Theft
Illinois does not have a statute titled shoplifting. Instead, shoplifting is classified under the retail theft provisions of the law. The statute makes it illegal to take or obtain merchandise from a retail establishment with the full retail value of the merchandise.
This means that retail theft is more than just taking something and leaving the store without paying for it. Actions such as price switching, exchanging merchandise that was stolen, or trying to confuse a cashier and get the wrong change back are additional forms of retail theft.
The Difference Between Possession and Distribution Under Illinois Drug Laws
The state of drug crimes is in flux throughout much of the United States. Yet while many states are moving away from harsh penalties for individual drug users, criminal penalties for the sale and manufacture of controlled substances continue to be among the harshest penalties in the criminal justice system. Any drug charge is a serious issue. However, a conviction for distribution can put you in prison for thirty years or more in some instances.
The Difference Between Possession, Distribution, and Manufacture Crimes
There are four major types of drug crimes under Illinois law:
- Possession of a controlled substance;
- Possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance;
- Delivery of a controlled substance; and
White Collar Crime in Illinois
There are several different types of crimes, and white collar crimes are some of the most complicated kinds of cases to defend. Most white-collar crimes are financial crimes. However, contrary to popular belief, they are not crimes committed only by the wealthy and powerful.
Types of White Collar Crimes
White collar crime is not an official crime designation under the law. Generally, the term white-collar crime is used to refer to non-violent property crimes. Often, they have a financial component. The following examples of crimes in Illinois are widely considered to be white-collar crimes:
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