ILCS Burglary § 19-1

The Illinois Burglary Statute.

The Illinois burglary statute is broader than the residential burglary statute. The more general form of the burglary provides the following:

Section 19-1(a) of the Illinois Criminal Code provides, in part, that…

General Burglary Sentence In Illinois

“Burglary committed in, and without causing damage to, a watercraft, aircraft, motor vehicle, railroad car, or any part thereof is a Class 3 felony.

Burglary committed in a building, housetrailer, or any part thereof or while causing damage to a watercraft, aircraft, motor vehicle, railroad car, or any part thereof is a Class 2 felony.” 720 ILCS 5/19-1(b)

There Are 2 Ways To Commit Burglary

Thus, under the statute, there are two ways to commit the crime of burglary:

(1) By entering without authority and with the intent to commit a felony or theft, or
(2) By remaining without authority and with the intent to commit a felony or theft.

Correct Way To Interpret The Burglary Statute

In regards to a retail store, like Walmart, a person can only be guilt of burglary “remaining without authority with intent…” if the person lawfully enters a public building and then commits theft AND exceeds the physical scope of his authority.

In other words, burglary by remaining requires evidence that a defendant, with the intent to commit a felony or theft, is found in a place where the public is not authorized to be.

Rather, it refers to situations in which a person lawfully enters a place of business, but, in order to commit a theft or felony:

(1) Hides and waits for the building to close
(2) Enters an unauthorized area within the building; or
(3) Continues to remain on the premises after being asked to leave.

However, if the state can prove that a person enters with the intent to steal then a burglary under the first section can still be sustained because it is presumed that that a shopkeeper did not grant permission for someone to enter just to steal.

Residential Burglary Statute In Illinois

In Illinois residential burglary is a Class 1 felony. The crime is defined by statute this way:

Illinois Residential Burglary Sentence

Since the Illinois residential burglary statutes defines it as a class 1 felony that means the sentencing range is between 4 to 15 years. However see the below chart for more sentencing information:

The most important sentencing aspect to know about Illinois residential burglary is that it is considered a non-probationable offense. That means an individual who is convicted of residential burglary is by law required to be sentenced to prison time even if the individual has absolutely no criminal history or prior convictions in their record.

See the Illinois Sentencing checklist for more sentencing details.

See Also

• People v. Bradford, 2016 IL 118674 (March) Episode 155 (Duration 7:52) ( burglary by remaining requires evidence that a defendant, with the intent to commit a felony or theft, is found in a place where the public is not authorized to be)
• People v. Burlington, 2018 IL App (4th) 150642 (March) Episode 472 (Duration 7:42) (if the state can prove you entered a store with intent to steal they can charge you with a burglary)
• People v. Johnson, 2018 IL App (3d) 150352 (January) Episode 456 (Duration 11:30) (3rd District was not allowing the state to charge a burglary of a store)
• People v. Moore, 2018 IL App (2d) 160277 (June) Episode 505 (Duration 4:40) (2nd District joins the 4th District and comes out against the 3rd District interpretation of the Illinois burglary statute)
• People v. Allen, 2017 IL App (1st) 151540 (December) Episode 430 (Duration 9:24) (see how this defendant avoided mandatory class X sentencing on his burglary conviction)
• Related Charge of Criminal Trespass To Property
• See also Understanding More Of The Criminal Law and the Illinois Crimes Index.