First Offender Probation in Illinois: Eligibility, Rules, and Violations

First offender probation in Illinois is the common name for the Offender Initiative Program under 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3.3, a track that lets certain first-time felony defendants complete at least 12 months of court-ordered conditions and walk away with the case dismissed and no conviction on their record. Finish the program and the charges disappear. Violate it, and the case restarts from the arraignment as if the program never happened.¹

Which Felony Charges Qualify

The program only applies to probationable felonies, and only to a specific list of them. The statute names theft, retail theft, forgery, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, burglary, possession of burglary tools, deceptive practices, disorderly conduct, criminal damage or trespass to property, criminal trespass to a residence, obstructing justice, offenses involving fraudulent identification, and drug possession under the Cannabis Control Act, the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, or the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act.¹

If the charge isn’t on that list, this program isn’t available. Misdemeanors aren’t covered. DUI isn’t covered. Anything involving violence, weapons, or sexual conduct is separately excluded as a “violent offense” under the statute.¹

Illinois has two other first-offender tracks aimed specifically at drug cases, under Section 10 of the Cannabis Control Act and Section 410 of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act. They look similar and all three count as “qualified probation” for later expungement purposes, but each is its own statute with its own conditions.

Who Qualifies

Three requirements have to line up before a judge can place you on the program.

First, no prior felony convictions. That means no felony conviction under Illinois law, any other state’s law, or federal law. A prior juvenile adjudication for a violent offense also disqualifies you.¹

Second, the charge has to be one of the probationable felonies listed in the statute, and it can’t fall into the violent-offense exclusion.

Third, everyone has to agree. The court, the defendant, and the State’s Attorney all have to consent.¹ That last part is what catches people off guard. A defense attorney can ask, but the prosecutor can refuse, and a judge can’t force the program over the State’s Attorney’s objection. In practice, prosecutors weigh the strength of the evidence, the nature of the offense, and the defendant’s background. There is no age cutoff; the program isn’t limited to young adults.

Once both sides agree, the defendant and the State’s Attorney waive the preliminary hearing, and the court suspends the proceedings for the length of the program.¹

What the Program Requires

The statute splits conditions into things every participant has to do and things a judge may add.

Mandatory for Every Participant

Commit no new criminal offenses in Illinois or anywhere else.
Possess no firearm or other dangerous weapon for the duration of the program.
Pay the victim or property owner full restitution.
Hold a job, or complete at least 30 hours of community service where it’s available and funded in your county.
Attend courses aimed at a high school diploma, a high school equivalency exam, or a vocational training program.

The court can credit time spent in approved treatment toward the community service requirement.¹

Discretionary Additions

A judge may also order medical, psychiatric, or substance abuse treatment approved by the Illinois Department of Human Services; require you to stay free of any controlled substance not prescribed by a physician, with blood or urine testing to confirm it; set a drug testing schedule; and impose fines, court fees, and program costs. For minors prosecuted as adults, the court can add conditions like living with parents or in a foster home, attending school, or contributing to household support.¹

On the money side, Illinois generally caps monthly probation supervision fees at $25, though a circuit court with a standard fee guide and a Crime Victim’s Services Fund can charge more. A separate community service supervision fee of $50 per month applies when the court orders community service and no probation fee is otherwise assessed. Courts can reduce or waive these fees for inability to pay, and under Bearden v. Georgia a court cannot revoke supervision solely because someone genuinely can’t afford the payments; it must first determine whether the nonpayment was willful.²³

What You Get for Finishing

Complete all conditions and the State’s Attorney dismisses the case, or the court discharges you and dismisses the proceedings.¹ No conviction. That outcome is one of the best available in Illinois criminal law.

Dismissal alone, though, doesn’t scrub the arrest. The arrest and the charge still show up on background checks until you take a separate step: petitioning for expungement. Expungement physically destroys or returns the records and removes your name from public indexes. Sealing, by contrast, hides the records from most of the public but keeps them available to law enforcement. Expungement is the stronger remedy.⁴

Because the Offender Initiative Program counts as “qualified probation” under the Illinois Criminal Identification Act, you have to wait five years after satisfactory termination before you can petition.⁴ The petition carries filing fees that vary by county, typically around $60 in state police processing charges plus a comparable court filing amount. It isn’t automatic. You file, and the court decides.

Even a granted expungement has limits. The FBI may retain records, certain professional licensing boards and government agencies can still access expunged information, and foreign governments like Canada may still see the original arrest through shared databases.

What a Violation Costs

If the State’s Attorney shows specific proof that you failed to complete the program or broke a condition, the court enters an order finding you did not successfully complete it. The case then returns to the arraignment stage and proceeds as if you had never entered the program.¹

You face the original felony with the full range of penalties, including prison. Time spent in the program earns you nothing. And you can’t apply again on the same case; you’ve used your chance. Common violations are new criminal charges, failed drug tests, missed restitution payments, and skipped community service or educational requirements.

Warnings for Non-Citizens

Non-citizens face a problem most defendants never think about. Federal immigration law uses its own definition of “conviction,” broader than Illinois courts recognize. Under that definition, a conviction exists whenever a person admits guilt or a court finds sufficient facts for guilt and then imposes any form of punishment or restraint on liberty. A state-level dismissal after a rehabilitation program doesn’t necessarily erase that federal immigration “conviction.”⁵

The front end is what matters. If placement in the program requires admitting facts or entering a guilty plea, and the court then imposes conditions restricting liberty, immigration authorities may treat the whole episode as a conviction after Illinois dismisses the case. A judgment vacated only because the person completed a rehabilitation program, rather than for a constitutional or procedural defect, still counts as a conviction in the immigration system.⁵

Drug charges are worse. Federal law has a separate ground of inadmissibility based on conduct alone. A non-citizen who admits the essential elements of a drug offense can be found inadmissible without any formal conviction. Any non-citizen offered this program should consult an immigration attorney before accepting. Mistakes here are often irreversible.

Firearms, During and After

Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison from possessing firearms or ammunition.⁶ Because the program covers felonies, your firearm status turns on how the case ends.

During the program, possessing a firearm or dangerous weapon is a flat mandatory violation.¹ After successful completion and dismissal, there is no conviction, so the federal felony bar should not apply. But if the charge was drug possession, federal law separately prohibits firearm possession by anyone who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, regardless of any conviction.⁶ That prohibition tracks current conduct, not criminal history, and doesn’t vanish when a case is dismissed.

If you violate the program and end up convicted of the underlying felony, the federal firearm ban applies permanently unless your rights are later restored through a pardon, expungement of the conviction, or a state restoration-of-rights process the federal government recognizes.

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3.3 – Offender Initiative Program
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Public Act 093-0475
3
Justia US Supreme Court. Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660 (1983)
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 20 ILCS 2630/5.2 – Expungement, Sealing, and Immediate Sealing
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Policy Manual – Adjudicative Factors
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts