Outside of DuPage County, Illinois there are several other county bar associations in the Chicago Metropolitan area that also provide Lawyer Referral Services. The Illinois State Bar also provides this service at the state level. Please read the disclaimer before reading the questions and answers. If you have a question that you would like to have addressed please e-mail your request, include your phone number if additional clarification is needed. The following information does not constitute legal advice of any kind, but is intended to help the public with understanding some of the basic issues they may face.
Every report indicates that crime is decreasing.
The bureau of Justice Statistics announced in September 1996 that the number of violent crimes fell more than nine percent in 1995 dropping from 10.9 million in 1994 to 9.9 million in 1995. The FBI also reported, in September 1996, that the crime rate per 100,000 persons had dropped by two percent from 1994 and violent crime by four percent. The rates of murder, forcible rape and robbery showed the biggest drops. The U.S. has the most heavily armed citizenry in the world. It is estimated that some 223 million guns are available to the general public, and that roughly 135,000 children carry guns to school each day.