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Felony Murder

In Illinois, a person can be charged and convicted of first-degree murder even if they did not actually kill the victim or intend to commit the murder.

Learn More About Felony Murder Read stories of people convicted through felony murder

Overview

The felony-murder rule states that a person can be found guilty of felony murder if they commit an underlying felony that sets in motion a direct chain of events that leads to a death. Despite the varying degrees of involvement each person might have had in a crime, the felony-murder law blends individual actors together and convicts them all as a person who killed someone else. First-degree murder is a conviction that carries a minimum sentence of twenty years and, under certain circumstances, a maximum sentence of natural life.

The theory behind felony murder establishes strict liability without requiring any culpable mental state around the actions that caused the death. As such, there are people serving life in prison today, convicted under the felony-murder law, without any involvement in the associated murder.

Our Work to Reform Felony Murder

In 2021, Illinois narrowed the felony-murder rule in Public Act 101-0652 by moving Illinois from a proximate cause theory to an agency theory for felony murder. Agency theory of felony murder means the death actually has to be caused by the defendant or another participant in the underlying felony. This change narrowed the reach of felony murder to deaths caused by the direct actions of a defendant or other participant. It eliminated scenarios where the death is caused by someone else.

Before this bill became law, Illinois had one of the broadest felony-murder laws in the country. Prosecutors charged people with murder for deaths caused by third parties. If someone committed an underlying felony and a death occurred, they could be charged with first-degree murder. Now people can only be charged with felony murder if they or a co-defendant cause a death during the course of an underlying felony.

The 2021 law change was prospective, but not retroactive. This reform will apply to anyone sentenced under felony murder after July 1, 2021, but will not apply to anyone sentenced before that date.

Illinois law still permits a person to be found guilty of felony murder even if a participant did not know or could not have foreseen that another participant would cause a death during the underlying felony. Illinois does not track how many people have been charged under felony murder because court data systems across Illinois do not specify the circumstances behind a murder charge. We will continue to work on reforming felony murder in Illinois.