Last week, we began reviewing where the Illinois Supreme Court’s civil and criminal dockets originated from during the first five years of our study period (2000-2004). Today and tomorrow, we review the second five years of the period.
The data for the civil docket in 2005 is reported in Table 168 below. Cook County’s share of the civil docket increased by ten points from 2004 to 2005 to 53.19%. Franklin and Madison counties increased to 8.33% of the civil docket apiece. Lake County was down slightly to 4.17% of the civil docket. Sangamon County, which had produced only one case the previous year, accounted for another 4.17% of the docket. Eleven additional jurisdictions – St. Clair, Kane, McHenry, Du Page, Peoria, Rock Island, Vermilion, Williamson, Henry and Ogle counties, and the Illinois Labor Relations Board – produced one case each.
The Court heard 21 cases from Cook County on the criminal docket in 2005 – 36.21% of the caseload. Du Page County, which accounted for only one case on the civil docket, produced six cases on the criminal docket, or 10.34% of the caseload. The Court heard three criminal cases each from Will, Champaign and Macon counties – 5.17% of the docket apiece. Kane, Kankakee and Grundy counties produced two cases each, or 3.44% of the criminal docket. Finally, sixteen different jurisdictions – Winnebago, St. Clair, Sangamon, McHenry, Adams, Madison, Douglas, Vermilion, Coles, Rock Island, Henry, Ogle, Warren, Clinton, Saline and Boone counties – accounted for one case apiece, or 22.92% of the criminal docket collectively.
The data for the civil docket in 2006 is reported in Table 170 below. The Court heard 20 civil cases from Cook County, but with the Court’s total civil caseload down slightly, this amounted to 42.86% of the Court’s docket. The Court heard three cases each – 6.12% of the docket – from Lake, St. Clair, Sangamon and McHenry counties. The Court decided two cases from Rock Island County, accounting for 4.08% of the docket. The lower end of the Court’s civil docket was widely dispersed, with fourteen different counties accounting for one case each, or 28.57% of the docket – Winnebago, Kane, Du Page, Kendall, Madison, McLean, Jefferson, Jackson, Peoria, Coles, Scott, Perry, La Salle and Menard counties.
Cook County’s share of the criminal docket increased slightly to 39.22% of the docket in 2006. Kane and Will counties both increased their share to 7.84% of the criminal docket apiece. The Court heard two cases each – 3.92% of the criminal docket – from Lake, Champaign and Marion counties and the ARDC Review Board. Finally, the Court heard one case each from fifteen different jurisdictions – St. Clair, Sangamon, Du Page, McLean, Jefferson, La Salle, Pike, Vermilion, Ogle, Tazewell, Williamson, Boone, Stark, Moultrie and Ford counties – amounting to the final 29.41% of the criminal docket.
In 2007, Cook County’s share of the civil docket increased substantially to 51.22%. The Court heard two cases each from Lake, Sangamon and Will counties, or 4.88% of the docket each. Another fourteen jurisdictions produced one case each for a collective 34.15% of the docket – Winnebago, Du Page, Madison, Tazewell, Peoria, Knox, Rock Island, Pike, Piatt, Lee and Montgomery counties, and three administrative agencies – the Pollution Control Board, the Labor Relations Board and the Property Tax Appeals Board.
That same year, Cook County’s share of the criminal docket increased significantly to 53.57%. Only two other counties produced multiple criminal cases on the Court’s docket – Du Page and Peoria with two cases each. The docket was far more concentrated in 2007, with nine jurisdictions producing one case each – Winnebago, Kane, Adams, Champaign, Livingston, De Kalb, Macon, Tazewell and Union counties.
Join us back here tomorrow as we address the years 2008 and 2009.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Teemu008 (no changes).