Chicago Appleseed has released A Report on Chicago’s Felony Courts, as part of the Criminal Justice Project – a research and advocacy effort being done jointly by Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers.

Criminal justice has become our de facto drug treatment and mental health system.  It is expected to punish and to rehabilitate, and to do both without adequate funding. Harmful, dangerous, and repeat offenders should be sent to prison, but our moral revulsion at other sorts of offenses, including many drug offenses, need not always result in imprisonment. If prison is the legislative mandate for most drug offenses, while we are unwilling to increase taxes significantly, law enforcement will be deprived of the resources needed to deal with violent crime.  At the same time, some non-violent drug offenders will be incarcerated, resulting in a lack of rehabilitation and the stigma of a felony conviction, and other drug cases will be dismissed for want of rehabilitative options.

With the cooperation of Presiding Judge Paul Biebel, State’s Attorney Richard Devine, and Public Defender Edwin Burnette, Chicago Appleseed conducted a two-year investigation of system-wide issues affecting the criminal courts. After hundreds of interviews and surveys, hundreds of hours of court watching,  and careful analysis of the literature, this project serves to shed light on the fundamental problems plaguing the system while at the same time offering meaningful and realistic solutions for change.

For full copy of the Report, CLICK HERE. For a copy of the Executive Summary, CLICK HERE. 

This project is supported by a grant from the Chicago Community Trust.