The records consist of lists that summarize the proceedings in criminal prosecutions. The defendants were persons and, in some instances, companies that allegedly violated federal criminal laws in northeastern Illinois.
A docket for a case commonly provides the names of one or more defendants, the attorneys for the United States and the defendant, the citation and common name of the criminal statute, and entries about the dates and types of court proceedings. Docket entries in criminal proceedings may include the date an indictment or criminal information was filed by the U.S. Attorney, a plea by a defendant, the names of jurors, an order for a change of venue from one court to another, the verdict of a jury, and the terms of sentence imposed by a judge, including a monetary fine, incarceration in a federal penitentiary, or probation. If either party appealed the final decision or judgment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, or if the United States District Court received a mandate from the United States Court of Appeals or the United States Supreme Court, then information about those appellate proceedings is annotated in a criminal docket entry about the case.
Some of the crimes documented in the dockets include the possession or sale of illegal alcoholic liquor in violation of the National Prohibition Enforcement Act; the transportation of a woman across a state line for prostitution or some other immoral purpose in violation of the Mann Act; the theft and interstate transportation of stolen automobiles and other prosecutions under the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act; embezzlement; bank robbery; illegal re-entry into the United States after deportation and other immigration law violations; and the possession, sale, and distribution of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and other illegal controlled substances in illegal drug trafficking.
