You do not have to be convicted of a crime to have a criminal record - if you have been arrested or charged with a crime, you have a criminal record. Criminal records are public, meaning that anybody can see them, including friends, family, and employers. If you meet certain criteria, you can have your record expunged or sealed, meaning your slate could potentially be cleansed.

Expungement vs. Sealing

Though the processes to get your records expunged or sealed are very similar, they are not the same. Expungement is when your criminal record is either destroyed or returned to you, almost as if the events in the record never happened. The public nor police or the government can see anything on your record. Sealing is the process of hiding your record from the public but does not erase your record completely.

For years, people have been fighting for medical marijuana to be legal. Many people say there are numerous health benefits to using marijuana as a therapeutic way to cope with certain diseases and disorders. In fact, it is not uncommon for people to be medical marijuana patients anymore - it has been reported that there are over two million legal medical marijuana patients in the 29 states and the District of Columbia that have begun to make medical marijuana usage legal.

Prior to Illinois House Bill 4870, also known as Ashley’s Law, children who were using cannabis as a medical treatment could not use their medical marijuana medication while they were at school. The bill, which the Illinois governor signed into effect last week, allows parents to give a “cannabis-infused product” to their children while they are on school grounds or on a school bus. Cannabis-infused products can be foods, oils, patches, ointments or other cannabis products that are not smoked. The bill also prohibits schools from taking disciplinary action against students who use cannabis-infused products for medical reasons.

Bill Is Known as Ashley’s Law

Driving is a privilege - not a right. There is nothing in any law or constitution that says you must have the right to drive. Being able to legally drive is a privilege that can be easily taken away if you have violated certain rules or regulations. Two of the ways your driving privileges can be taken away in Illinois is through a driver’s license revocation or suspension. Both are very similar but differ in the length of time your privileges are gone.

Driver’s License Revocations

In certain situations, your driving privileges can be revoked, meaning they are withdrawn for an indefinite amount of time. The Illinois Secretary of State will revoke your driving privileges if you are a repeat traffic offender or if you were convicted of causing a crash that resulted in the death of another person. Other situations that could lead to a driver’s license revocation include:

Each year, the Illinois Department of Corrections releases an annual report which details programs in place at correctional facilities in the state and statistics about the prison population. In 2017, there were 43,075 inmates that were serving sentences in 25 correctional centers throughout the state. The majority of inmates--29.2 percent--were convicted of Class X felonies or the most serious felony classification for crimes other than murder.

Assault or Battery

Inmates: 3,976

Almost all states require you to carry some type of insurance when you drive a vehicle--in Illinois, driver’s must have:

• $25,000 for bodily injury per person;
• $50,000 for bodily injury per accident; and
• $20,000 for property damage.

These are the bare minimum of the insurance requirements that you must have to drive, though it is recommended that you have more than the minimum to protect yourself from being sued for damages over those amounts. Drivers must understand the consequences of driving without insurance in Illinois because the consequences could result in traffic violations.

Illinois Insurance Requirements