LawPulse

The Illinois Supreme Court’s newly released 2024 Annual Report indicates trial and appellate cases are on the rise.

Illinois circuit and appellate court filings in several areas of law increased dramatically in 2024 compared with the previous four years, according to the Illinois Supreme Court’s recently released 2024 Annual Report.

In 2024, the number of new Illinois circuit filings for civil, criminal, juvenile, and a broad category of “other” cases represented five-year highs statewide. Appellate criminal and civil filings in 2024 also reached five-year highs.

Some of the increases may reflect a return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. While the report provides little context for many of the increases, it attributes the increase in appellate criminal filings largely to the rise in pretrial sentencing matters. The report also summarizes key initiatives the Court has launched to address the strain that pretrial-related cases have placed on the appellate system.

A few figures

In 2024, 2,934 civil appellate cases were filed, up from 2,871 in 2023 and substantially higher than the 1,966 cases filed in 2020. Likewise, 3,763 criminal appellate cases were filed in 2024 compared with 1,693 criminal appellate cases filed in 2020.

Throughout all Illinois judicial circuits, new civil filings jumped from 313,852 in 2020 to 390,887 in 2024. Criminal cases increased from 206,100 to 232,537 during the same period. And from 2020 to 2024, juvenile court filings from 16,594 to 27,127.

The trends are not as consistent among all districts and circuits. Cook County represented, by far, the largest increase in filings (see below). Among all 25 circuits, 12 saw increases in new case filings. Bucking the trend, the number of cases filed in the Supreme Court in 2024 were the second lowest in five years. In 2024, the number of cases disposed by the Supreme Court were at its lowest since at least 2020.

Data transparency

The Supreme Court does not comment on its annual reports, but the 2024 Annual Report points to other resources for those interested in a more detailed look at case numbers. The report calls attention to the Illinois Office of Statewide Pretrial Services (IOSPS), which provides extensive, up-to-date pretrial and criminal case data for most counties. (A few counties have their own dashboards, all of which are also listed on the ILOSPS website.)

Other highlights

Big numbers. In 2024, Illinois Courts collected nearly $915 million in child support and maintenance payments. Out of the State of Illinois’ $52 billion General Revenue Fund (GRF) in 2024, Illinois Court’s share was $569 million, or 1.09 percent. Other judicial agencies were allocated another .53 percent of the GRF.

Cook County Circuit Court influence. While the number of new cases filed in 2024 increased by 10.6 percent statewide from 2023 (see above), Cook County’s nearly 500,000 new filings represented a nearly 40 percent increase from 2023. The 23rd Judicial Circuit, which includes DeKalb and Kendall counties, was an outlier in the other direction, reporting a -15 percent drop in new cases in 2024.

Up to interpretation. More than 144,414 interpretations took place in Illinois Courts during 2024, up from 117,113 in 2023. Certified or registered interpreters were used 62 percent of the time. Spanish language interpreters comprised 95 percent of all translators in 2024, followed by Polish- (2 percent) and Russian-speaking interpreters (1 percent). Numerous other languages, including American Sign Language, filled out the remaining 2 percent.

Read the Illinois Supreme Court’s 2024 Annual Report.

Pete Sherman is managing editor of the Illinois Bar Journal.
psherman@isba.org