Case Study A. B.

Charge: Retail Theft of liquor

Days in Jail: 248 days

Cost to taxpayers: $35,464

  • 28 arrests as an adult, 16 bookings into Cook County Jail, 12 admissions to the Illinois Department of Corrections.
  • His most recent arrest occurred on 7/19/2014. He removed several bottles of alcohol from a shelf at a retail store, placed them in a cart, and attempted to exit the store when he was stopped and detained. Total value of these items was $366.97. He spent 248 days in jail before he was found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.This booking alone cost taxpayers about $35,464. This does not include the time that he will spend in IDOC.
  • At the time of this arrest, 31-year-old A.B. was on parole for a similar retail theft from January 2014. In this case he entered a Target, placed several bottles of patron into a bag, placed the bag in the cart and exited the store. He spent 182 days in custody on this case before being sentenced to 1 year IDOC, meaning he would be required to serve half that time in prison. With the credit he was given for time spent in jail pre-trial, he had already completed his sentence and did not spend any time in prison on this case.
  • All of A.B.’s convictions since 2006 have been for Retail Theft. In most cases, he attempts to steal various amounts of alcohol from retail stores – usually totaling around $350. In one case from 2007, he stole 10 CDs from Target and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.