Last time, we reviewed which Districts (and Divisions) of the Appellate Court produced the Supreme Court’s civil docket from 1990 to 2019.  This week, we’re reviewing the sources of the criminal docket.

Between 1990 and 1994, the Court decided 93 criminal cases which originated in Chicago’s First District: we were unable to determine the Division for 13 cases, 13 cases came from Division 1, 12 from Division 2, 21 from Division 3, 13 from Division 4, 17 from Division 5 and 4 from Division 6.  The Court decided 36 cases from the Second District, 34 from the Fifth District, 33 from the Third District and 21 cases from the Fourth District.  The Court decided 97 cases arising directly from the trial courts – nearly all death penalty cases from this era before abolition.  The Court decided 13 cases which arose from the Bar Court (these cases too are largely gone from the Court’s docket in recent years – they are typically resolved by unpublished orders rather than full-bore opinions).  Finally, the Court decided 3 cases invoking the Court’s original jurisdiction.

Between 1995 and 1999, the Court’s caseload from the First District fell to 63.  The Court decided 18 cases from undetermined Divisions, 11 from Division 1, 10 from Division 2, 8 from Division 6, 6 each from Divisions 3 and 4 and 4 from Division 5.

The Court decided 43 criminal cases from the Second District, 23 from the Fourth District, 19 from the Third District and 13 from the Fifth District.  The Court decided 162 cases on direct appeal from the trial courts and 4 from the bar court.

Criminal cases were down a bit more from 2000 to 2004 in the First District.  The Court decided 56 criminal cases from the First District – 20 we can’t attribute to a Division, 8 from Division 3, 7 from Division 1, 6 each from Divisions 4, 5 and 6, and 3 from Division 2.  The Court decided 46 cases from the Fourth District, 39 from the Third District, 38 from the Second District and 18 from the Fifth District.  The Court decided 134 cases on direct review from the trial courts, 5 under its original jurisdiction and 4 from the bar court.

Join us back here next time as we turn our attention to the years 2005 to 2019.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Gary Todd (no changes).