Post-Indictment Preliminary Hearings
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In 1970, the delegates to the Sixth Illinois Constitutional
Convention1 did not avail themselves of the opportunity to
abolish the grand jury in spite of criticisms directed at the insti-
tution.2 Having been informed by proponents of the grand jury
that its retention would be advantageous,3 the Convention
decided to defer to the legislature the determination of whether
the purported merits were illusory. Taking the path trodden one
hundred years earlier by the delegates to the 1870 Convention,
the 1970 Convention voted to leave responsibility for abolition
or limitation of the grand jury to the General Assembly and the
indictment was retained as a constitutional requirement.4
However, despite this reluctance to reject the indictment5
as a constitutionally required condition precedent to being held
to answer for a criminal offense in all cases but those excepted,6
the importance of a grand jury proceeding was diminished to
a degree by the inclusion of a paragraph in the same section of
the 1970 Illinois Constitution requiring a preliminary hearing to
be held under specified circumstances.7 The Bill of Rights Com-
mittee, which drafted the indictment section,8 proposed a
separate section on preliminary hearings. This section was
1. Hereinafter referred to as the Convention.
2. See RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS, SIXTH ILL. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVEN-
TION, Verbatim Transcripts, vol. III at 1432-50 passim (1969-70) [herein-
after cited as Verbatim Transcripts].
3. Id.
4. The 1870 Constitution provided in article II, section 8 that:
No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense, unless
on indictment of a grand jury, except in cases in which the punish-
ment is by fine, or imprisonment otherwise than in the penitentiary,
in cases of impeachment, and in cases arising in the army and navy,
or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public
danger: Provided, that the grand jury may be abolished by law in
all cases.
ILL. CONST. art. II, § 8 (1870).
On the 1870 Constitution and the grand jury, see Calkins, Abolition
of the Grand Jury Indictment in Illinois, 1966 U. ILL. L.F. 423; G. BRADEN
& D. COHN, THE ILLINOIS CONSTITUTION: AN ANNOTATED AND COMPARA-
TIVE ANALYSIS 34-38 (1969).
5. Under Illinois law a prosecution may be commenced by com-
plaint, information or indictment. ILL. REV. STAT. ch. 38, § 111-1 (1973).
However, all prosecutions of felonies until recently had to be by indict-
ment unless waived understandingly in open court. ILL. REV. STAT. ch.
38, § 111-2 (1973). For a discussion of the recent amendment of this
section of the criminal code see note 101 infra.
6. ILL. CONST. art. I, § 7 (1970).
7. Id.
8. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS, SIXTH ILL. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION,
Comm. Proposals, vol. VI at 39-41 (1969-70) [hereinafter cited as
Comm. Proposals].
9. Comm. Proposals, vol. VI at 74; Verbatim Transcripts, vol. III at
1450.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jmlr9&div=36&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Post-Indictment Preliminary Hearings
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