Chicago Alderman Edward Burke was charged with extortion in 2019.
Chicago Alderman Edward Burke was charged with extortion in 2019.
Based on federal Department of Justice statistics, the Chicago region garnered the most public corruption convictions since 1976, with Illinois as a whole designated the third most corrupt state, according to a report from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The study, titled “Corruption Spikes in Illinois,” examined statistics from the DOJ Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section through 2019. The corruption exposed during that year included an FBI complaint charging Chicago Alderman Edward Burke with attempted extortion, and a number of probes began to focus on the activities of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Since 1976, when the DOJ began collecting the corruption data, the Northern District of Illinois saw 1,770 corruption convictions, with the Central District of California (Los Angeles) coming in second at 1,588 convictions, according to the report. Even so, the number of convictions in regions such as Chicago and New York dropped markedly over that time period.
Looking just at the decade of 2010 to 2019, Illinois’ Northern District tied with the Miami region for sixth in terms of corruption convictions. And based on convictions per capita, the state of Illinois ranked the third most corrupt in the nation, with 1.69 convictions per 10,000 residents, the report states.
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Federal Corruption Convictions by Judicial District 1976-2019
| Rank for Convictions | District and Major City | 1976-2019 |
| 1 | Illinois - Northern (Chicago) | 1,770 |
| 2 | California - Central (Los Angeles) | 1,588 |
| 3 | New York - Southern (Manhattan) | 1,361 |
| 4 | Florida - Southern (Miami) | 1,234 |
| 5 | District of Columbia | 1,199 |
| 6 | New Jersey (Newark) | 1,179 |
| 7 | Virginia - Eastern (Richmond) | 1,096 |
| 8 | Pennsylvania - Eastern | 1,059 |
| 9 | Ohio - Northern (Cleveland) | 1,006 |
| 10 | New York - Eastern (Brooklyn) | 879 |
| 11 | Texas - Southern (Houston) | 841 |
| 12 | Florida - Middle (Orlando) | 771 |
| 13 | Massachusetts (Boston) | 727 |
| 14 | Louisiana - Eastern (New Orleans) | 697 |
| 15 | California - Eastern (Sacramento, Fresno) | 663 |
Federal Corruption Convictions by Judicial District 2010-2019
| Rank for Convictions | District and Major City | 2010-2019 |
| 1 | Virginia - Eastern (Richmond) | 391 |
| 2 | Maryland (Baltimore) | 352 |
| 3 | California - Central (Los Angeles) | 342 |
| 4 | New Jersey (Newark) | 303 |
| 5 | Texas - West (Austin-San Antonio) | 290 |
| 6 (tie) | Illinois - Northern (Chicago) | 285 |
| 6 (tie) | Florida - Southern (Miami) | 285 |
| 8 | Georgia - Northern (Atlanta) | 278 |
| 9 | Pennsylvania - Eastern (Philadelphia) | 270 |
| 10 | Texas - Northern (Dallas) | 269 |
| 11 | Arizona (Phoenix) | 263 |
| 12 | Texas - Southern (Houston) | 253 |
| 13 | District of Columbia | 225 |
| 14 | Florida - Middle (Orlando) | 203 |
| 15 | Massachusetts (Boston) | 188 |
Federal Corruption Convictions Per Capita 1976-2019
| Rank for Convictions per Capita | State / Territory | Convictions 1976-2019 | Population 2019 | Convictions per 10,000 Population |
| 1 | District of Columbia | 1,199 | 705,749 | 16.98 |
| 2 | Louisiana | 1,245 | 4,648,794 | 2.67 |
| 3 | Illinois | 2,152 | 12,671,821 | 1.69 |
| 4 | Tennessee | 1,041 | 6,829,174 | 1.52 |
| 5 | New York | 2,953 | 19,453,561 | 1.51 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | 1,877 | 12,801,989 | 1.46 |
| 7 | Virginia | 1,203 | 8,535,519 | 1.40 |
| 8 | Ohio | 1,568 | 11,689,100 | 1.34 |
| 9 | New Jersey | 1,179 | 8,882,190 | 1.32 |
| 10 | Georgia | 1,152 | 10,617,423 | 1.08 |
| 11 | Florida | 2,280 | 21,477,737 | 1.06 |
| 12 | Texas | 2,318 | 28,995,881 | 0.79 |
| 13 | California | 2,961 | 39,512,223 | 0.74 |
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