Maya Simkin -Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts |

About Maya Simkin

Maya Simkin (they/them) is an Appleseed Network Collaboration for Justice Fellow with Chicago Appleseed and a recent graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law. They have a background in farming and permaculture, and love studying Jewish liturgy and other radical texts. Maya is committed to abolition and is interested in learning how efforts in public interest law can contribute to liberation. There are lots of damsons to pick, pit, and preserve into compote this week and Maya continues to be impressed by the small fruit’s magic blues and purples, and even greens. View all posts by Maya Simkin →

Undermining Transparency & Accountability, Federal Court Ruling Allows CPD to Disable Body-Worn Cameras after Officer-Involved Shootings

In January of 2024, the Illinois Attorney General moved for judicial resolution in a dispute with the City of Chicago over the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) body-worn camera policy. Following the cover-up of the CPD’s murder of Laquan McDonald, the federal government implemented a consen...

The Results Are In: Forensic Labs Under Prosecutorial Control Are Problematic

UPDATE: September 29, 2025 | A previous version of this post said that if the Board of Commissioners grants the funding request, "the CCSAO would no longer rely on the ISP Crime Lab for forensic support." A representative of the State's Attorney's Office provided the following clarification: "The fo...

BREAKING – HB 1628 Passes, Marking an Important Step Toward Data Collection and Transparency in Reporting Civil Asset Forfeiture Practices

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts is celebrating the passage of Illinois House Bill 1628, an important step toward enhancing data collection and transparency in reporting in civil asset forfeiture practices. This bill builds on reforms from 2018 to the civil asset forfeiture reporting process...

NEW – Restorative Justice, Community, and the Courts: An Analysis of the Impact, Benefits, and Elements “Constantly in Conflict” in Chicago’s Restorative Justice Community Courts

Our new report examines the Circuit Court of Cook County’s three Restorative Justice Community Courts (RJCCs) located in the Avondale (North Side), Englewood (South Side), and North Lawndale (West Side) neighborhoods of Chicago. The North Lawndale court opened in 2017, and Englewood and Avondale fol...

New Federal Civil Asset Forfeiture Legislation Won’t End Police Shadow Surveillance or Limit Tech Budgets

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers’ report on civil asset forfeiture (CAF) highlights some of the horrors around property (cash and cars mostly) seized from citizens who have little to no connection with any crime. One outcome of this nefarious practice is th...

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