Murder in Illinois law constitutes the intentional killing, under circumstances defined by law, of people within or under the jurisdiction of the U.S. state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The United States

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

reported that in the year 2021, the state had a murder rate somewhat above the median for the entire country.

Definitions

First-degree murder

Illinois has four different homicide crimes in total, with

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...

being the most serious offense. Illinois law defines first-degree murder as when a person intends to kill, intends to inflict great

bodily harm Bodily harm is a legal term of art used in the definition of both statutory and common law offences in Australia, Canada, England and Wales and other common law jurisdictions. It is a synonym for injury or bodily injury and similar expressions, ...

, or knowingly engages in an act that has a strong probability of death or great bodily harm for another individual, causing a person's death. It is punished by a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

without the possibility of

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

. The only exception is for offenders under the age of 21, where the maximum sentence is life-with-parole after 40 years. Illinois does not have the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

Felony murder rule

Illinois also employs the

felony murder rule The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in so ...

. When someone commits a "forcible felony" besides second-degree murder causing someone's death, it is first-degree murder.

Second-degree murder

In Illinois, second-degree murder is not in itself an individual offense, but is a downgraded version of first-degree murder. A defendant is guilty of second-degree murder when they commit first-degree murder with one of the following mitigating circumstances: * The defendant was seriously provoked to the point that they committed the murder in an intense passion, but the action was not reasonable force. * At the time of the murder, the defendant believed deadly force would have been lawfully justified, but the belief was unreasonable. Second-degree murder is punished by either 4 to 30 years in prison, with the possibility of 4 of the years being reduced to probation.

Penalties

The sentences for homicide offenses in Illinois are listed below.

References

{{Murder in the United States by jurisdiction U.S. state criminal law Illinois law *