Criminal Justice Project - An Introduction

The Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice has received a grant from the Chicago Community Trust for the project: An Examination of the Criminal Justice System in Cook County. The project involves identifying problems and proposing meaningful solutions relating to lawyering and judicial performance. The focus of this project includes the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, the Cook County Public Defender's Office, private defense practitioners, and judges.

During the initial planning phase, we have sought and received pledges of cooperation from key players within the criminal justice system. We have created a Community Advisory Committee that includes criminal defense practitioners, prosecutors, former judges, and law professors.

We will focus on the policies, procedures, and outcomes found at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building at 2600 S. California Avenue, including the intersection of the homeless population and the Cook County criminal justice system. We will contrast our results there with legal culture and day-to-day policies and procedures at selected branch courts.

To conduct this proposed project, we will:

• Interview randomly selected lawyers in all offices, as well as private attorneys;
   
• Distribute, to all assistant states attorneys, Cook County public defenders and judges, a questionnaire designed to identify strengths, weaknesses, and solutions;
   
• Interview former assistant Cook County public defenders and assistant state's attorneys, as well as former sitting Cook County Criminal Court judges;
   
• Interview public defenders and state's attorneys in other jurisdictions;
   
• Review court records and statistics;
   
• Interview criminal defendants and victims;
   
• Analyze existing data, including caseloads, case processing information, and budget information.

The research will be conducted with the advice and assistance of social scientists and will include standardized interview and mail survey questions. Data relating to caseloads and case processing procedures will be compared to national standards. We will also conduct a court watching program designed to observe the courtroom environment and the interactions that take place.

The goal of this proposed project is to provide for the first time since 1929 a comprehensive examination of the various components that comprise the criminal justice system in Cook County. We will identify the strengths and the weaknesses, and propose specific recommendations for resolving the problems. A Community Advisory Committee will oversee the research portion of the project and work with the project team toward the implementation of the recommendations.

We will be utilizing paid staff and the pro bono assistance of Chicago-area law firms. We thank the Chicago Community Trust for the support of this project.