Last year I alerted readers to the fact that the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s (Clerk’s) office failed to mail out an unknown number of expunge and sealing orders for processing by the Illinois State Police (ISP) and police.

If you had a petition to expunge or seal granted in Cook County in 2020 or 2021 and never received letters from the ISP or police telling you that your court order was processed, the most likely explanation: the Clerk’s office never mailed out your order(s). That means your record(s) were never expunged or sealed.

Having learned this week that two more clients’ expungement orders were never processed, I believe it’s safe to assume other such orders have yet to be uncovered. Regrettably, some people only learn of the unprocessed order when they undergo a criminal background check for, say, a job.

How Do You Lose a Court Order?

In 2020, I assisted Kay in expunging her juvenile arrest record. Kay didn’t know she had a juvenile record until undergoing a DCFS fingerprint background check to become a foster parent.

Kay was arrested when she was 10 or 11 years old. Because the matter was not referred to juvenile court, Kay ended up with a “station adjustment” (meaning she was arrested and then released without being charged with a crime) – a common practice when children are arrested.

Recently, Kay underwent another DCFS background check. She wants to adopt a child. Much to her surprise, Kay’s juvenile arrest record showed up on her criminal background report. The adoption process was put on hold.

Understandably frustrated, Kay contacted me. I contacted the ISP, who informed me it never received a copy of Kay’s juvenile expungement order.

I went to the juvenile Clerk’s office earlier this week to pick up a copy of the order. To my amazement, I was informed that the Clerk had no record of the petition being granted!

Unprocessed Expungement Order Prompts Job Loss

After receiving clemency in the Spring of 2021, Belinda’s dream of attending nursing school was finally possible. A few months later, Belinda petitioned to expunge her record.

Recently, Belinda was offered a job in healthcare. She underwent a fingerprint background check at the employer’s request. After her background report came back with her conviction (the one she expunged), she was let go.

I retrieved my file for Belinda, discovering much to my dismay that I’d never received letters from either the police or the ISP.   

You Can’t Keep Blaming COVID

I realize that the four-month closure of the court system (due to COVID) was bound to cause some hiccups. But the fact I’m still finding unprocessed court orders more than two years after the court system opened back up, raises serious concerns about whether this remains an ongoing problem at the Clerk’s office.

Ongoing or not, there are an untold number of people walking around who think their criminal background is hidden and it’s not. They don’t deserve to fall victim on account of a governmental body’s failure to perform one of its ministerial functions.   

Cook County’s Unprocessed Court Orders: A Problem in Desperate Need of a Solution

First and foremost, the Clerk’s office has to publicly acknowledge the problem -- something it has yet to do.

Secondly, the Clerk’s office needs to come up with a foolproof system to identify which expungement/sealing orders were never mailed.

The Clerk’s office could ask the ISP for assistance. If it were willing to draw up a list of all the expunge and sealing orders granted in 2020 and 2021, the ISP could compare the Clerk’s list against the orders it has received from Cook County.

I’ve lost count how many court orders I’ve emailed to the ISP for processing. I’ll keep emailing these orders until I know the problem has been resolved.