Judge James Block Zagel
September 2012: Average Prison Sentence

District Court - Illinois North
Referring Agency: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Program Area: Organized Crime

Show Details   Judge Compared
To District		 Compared
To U.S.
Latest Fiscal Year - - -
Previous Fiscal Year - - -
Past 5 Years 295.3 62.9% 306%
Percent not reported where cases too few to provide
meaningful comparison.
Table 1: Current and 5 Year
Average Prison Sentence Comparison

Judge James Block Zagel didn't dispose of any cases in the Northern District of Illinois in the current fiscal year (2012) referred by the Federal Bureau of Investigation falling under the broad category of "Organized Crime".

Over the last five years, the average prison sentence imposed on defendants that were credited to Judge Zagel was 295.3 months. This was 62.9% higher than the 181.2 months typical in Illinois North and 305.9% higher than the 72.7 months average prison sentence for the nation. Judge James Block Zagel sentenced 11 defendants during the past five years.

(CAUTION: The kinds of cases handled by individual judges influences statistical information about their sentences. It therefore is important to consider the breakdown of cases that each has handled, available below, when making judge-by-judge comparisons.)

Bar chart of start

Figure 1: Five Year Comparison of Average Prison Sentence
in Months

Figure 1 compares Judge Zagel's numbers to those for judges in this district and in the United States as a whole for cases of this type over the last five years.

During the last five years there were 5 other judges in the Northern District of Illinois with information on convictions during that period. Average prison sentence numbers passed down for those judges ranged from 0.0 months to 405.5 months, putting Judge Zagel's average prison sentence of 295.3 months at the higher end of the range. The average prison sentence for the whole Northern District of Illinois during that time was 181.2 months.

Bar chart of label

Figure 2: Detailed Comparison among Judges for the Northern District of Illinois

Professional Biography

Born 1941 in Chicago, IL

Federal Judicial Service
Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois

Nominated by Ronald Reagan on February 2, 1987, to a seat vacated by Frank J. McGarr; Confirmed by the Senate on April 21, 1987, and received commission on April 22, 1987.

Education:
University of Chicago, B.A., 1962
University of Chicago, M.A., 1962
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1965

Professional Career:
Assistant state's attorney, Cook County, Illinois, 1965-1969
Assistant attorney general, State of Illinois, 1969-1977
Deputy chief, Criminal Justice Division, 1969-1970
Chief, Criminal Justice Division, 1970-1977
Chief prosecuting attorney, Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board, 1973-1975
Chief assistant attorney general, State of Arizona, 1975
Executive director, Illinois Law Enforcement Commision, 1977-1979
Director, Department of Revenue, State of Illinois, 1979-1980
Chairman, Governor's Advisory Counsel on Criminal Justice Legislation, 1980-1987
Director of state police, State of Illinois, 1980-1987

Lead Charges in Cases Handled

The lead charge with the most cases disposed of by Judge James Block Zagel for the past five years was "18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities". It accounted for 100.0% of all cases.

Lead Charge Judge District US  
18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities 100.0% 45.8% 23.2% More

Table 2: Composition of Cases for the Past Five Years (Top 10)

Number of Defendants in Judge James Block Zagel's Cases

Judge James Block Zagel didn't handle any convictions of this type in the current fiscal year 2012.