Attorney General Opinions September 1982

Attorney
General
Opinions

Public defenders for petty offenses

An indigent charged with a petty offense is not entitled to appointed legal counsel; nor is he entitled to appointed counsel at a hearing on his refusal to take a drunk driving test. A court is required to appoint counsel only when the crime charged is punishable by prison. Since a petty offense is not punishable by prison (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, sec. 1005-1-17), no appointed counsel is required; since a license revocation hearing is a civil proceeding, again, no appointed counsel is required.

But, when an indigent person is charged with crimes punishable by prison as well as petty offenses arising out of the same incident, it is proper for an appointed counsel to represent him on all charges. The attorney general emphasized that in such a case an indigent is entitled to appointed counsel only for the charges punishable by prison, but noted that requiring an indigent to defend himself in petty offenses while an appointed counsel defended him on the more serious charges would be uneconomical and "a detriment to the orderly administration of justice." (File No. 82-017)

Disability pay for law enforcement officers

All full-time law enforcement officers disabled in the line of duty are entitled for up to one year to the same benefits and pay they received before the injury (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 70, sec. 91). An amendment to the legislative act authorizing the continuation of pay and benefits limited its coverage of Department of Corrections employees to those working in penal institutions whose injuries were caused by inmate violence. (File No. 82-018)

State Stix

The general funds end-of-month balance in July was $104.72 million; the average daily available balance was $159.96 million, and the combined funds end-of-month balance was $176.58 million. . . . Declines in the durable goods and homebuilding industries and an influx of students and housewives into the labor market brought the final statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to 12.3 percent in July, second only to Michigan among major industrial states. If more people are looking for jobs, at least some are finding them: The labor force is the largest in a long time and has not decreased over the last months. Final seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for the state's major cities in May were: Bloomington-Normal, 7.6 percent; Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul, 6.9 percent; Chicago, 9.9 percent; Davenport-Rock Island-Moline (Illinois sector), 12.4 percent; Decatur, 18.4 percent; Kankakee, 15.0 percent; Peoria, 11.9 percent; Rockford, 18.8 percent; Springfield, 6.7 percent; East St. Louis (Illinois sector), 10.9 percent.

September 1982 | Illinois Issues | 39

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