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State Reform Profile

Illinois

Illinois has enacted landmark reforms including the SAFE-T Act and the nation's first automatic record expungement law.

ALTREFORM COMPOSITE86/100

Key Statistics

Incarceration Rate
381
per 100,000 residents
Annual Cost
$38K
per incarcerated person
3-Year Recidivism
60%
reincarcerated within 3 yrs
Racial Disparity
7.4×
Black vs. White incarceration
Alt. Programs
51
active diversion programs
Reform Initiatives
12
tracked by AltReform

Incarceration by Race

IL Overall381
National Avg568
Black (est.)1,692
White (est.)107

Incarceration rate per 100,000 residents. Racial estimates based on BJS/Sentencing Project methodology.

Recidivism Rate

60%3-year recidivism
This stateNational avg: 67%

Percent of people reincarcerated within 3 years of release. Source: BJS recidivism data series.

Cost vs. Alternatives

$38K
incarceration/yr
vs.
~$5K
diversion/yr

Active & Passed Reforms

4 initiatives

SAFE-T Act – Safety, Accountability, FairnessView full details →

Comprehensive reform including cash bail elimination and police accountability.

PassedPolicing2021
AltReform Score86/100

Cannabis Regulation & Tax ActView full details →

Legalized marijuana and included automatic expungement for 500,000+ records.

PassedDrug Policy2020
AltReform Score90/100

SB 2090 – Record ExpungementView full details →

First state to automatically expunge certain cannabis convictions.

PassedReentry2019
AltReform Score88/100

Data Sources & Methodology

Reform data sourced from state legislative records, BJS Criminal Justice Statistics, the Vera Institute Incarceration Trends dataset, and The Sentencing Project. AltReform prediction scores (0,100) are generated by our ML model trained on 20+ years of state-level reform outcomes, weighting recidivism reduction, racial equity impact, cost-effectiveness, and political feasibility. Statistics are the most recent available (2021,2024).

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