Sentencing and Resentencing in Chicago and Across Illinois

A plea or a verdict settles what a person was convicted of. The sentencing hearing settles what happens next, within the range the law sets: prison or probation, and how many years. The judge who took the plea or presided at the trial ordinarily imposes the sentence, and in a felony case the law requires a written presentence report first, unless, with exceptions, both sides have agreed on a specific sentence.

The range is set by the charge and, in some cases, the prior record; where the sentence lands inside it is not. The hearing is the one proceeding in the case that is about the person rather than the evidence.

Bedi & Singer represents people at sentencing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building at 26th and California, in Cook County’s suburban courthouses, in the collar counties, and in courts across Illinois. Sentencing in federal court follows different rules and is handled in Bedi & Singer’s federal practice.

Before the hearing a probation officer interviews the person and writes a presentence report: criminal history, health, family, education, work, finances, the effect of the offense on the victim, and, where appropriate, a plan for a sentence other than prison. The judge reads it first, and it follows the person into the Department of Corrections, so Bedi & Singer prepares the client for the interview and corrects the report in court where it is wrong.

At the hearing the court considers the evidence from the trial, the report, and what each side offers in aggravation and mitigation, hears argument on the alternatives, and gives the person a chance to speak. The victim of a violent crime may make a statement and is not cross-examined. Illinois law lists the factors that weigh toward a lighter sentence, among them no prior record, a provocation, circumstances unlikely to recur, a serious mental illness and the needs of the person’s child, and the factors that weigh the other way, among them harm caused or threatened, a prior record and a felony committed on release or probation for an earlier felony. In a violent-crime case the judge must state the reasons for the sentence on the record.

The defense case is built from that list: records, letters, treatment history, work, the people who will speak for the person and, where it helps, an expert’s report. Where probation is available, the law tells the court to impose probation or conditional discharge unless prison is needed to protect the public or a sentence without prison would make light of the offense and be inconsistent with justice. Where the charge carries a mandatory prison term, the argument is usually about the number of years and the rest of the order: credit for time in custody, a recommendation for treatment, and whether sentences on several counts run concurrently.

A sentence can be challenged in the court that imposed it, by a written motion filed generally within 30 days of the sentencing. The motion asks the judge to reduce the sentence or correct an error in the hearing, and the court cannot increase the sentence. An issue left out of the motion is generally lost on appeal. After a guilty plea negotiated on the sentence, an appeal claiming the sentence is excessive requires a timely motion to withdraw the plea instead.

Years later, a sentence can be revisited in several ways. An appellate court or a post-conviction court can send a case back for a new sentencing hearing. Since 2022 the State’s Attorney of the county of conviction may petition the sentencing court to resentence a person whose original sentence no longer serves the interests of justice; the court may consider conduct and rehabilitation in prison, age, time served, health and changed circumstances, and the new sentence cannot be longer than the original. At a sentencing or resentencing hearing held since 2016 for an offense committed under 18, the court must weigh the factors of youth, and many people sentenced since June 2019 for an offense committed under 21 are eligible for parole review after 10 years, after 20 for first degree murder or aggravated criminal sexual assault, and after 40 on some murder sentences. Clemency from the Governor remains for the cases the courts cannot reach. Bedi & Singer has represented clients at resentencing hearings in Cook County; the other routes to relief are described on the Post-Convictions page.

Jonathan Bedi and Dena Singer handle Bedi & Singer’s sentencing hearings together whether Bedi & Singer tried the case or came into it after the plea. The client and the family are part of that preparation: who speaks, what the judge should know, and what the sentence will mean.