Stephanie Agnew -Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

About Stephanie Agnew

Stephanie Agnew (she/her) is the Co-Executive Director of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and a Licensed Social Worker (LSW). She leads all internal and external communications strategy and execution, and works with the program staff to successfully implement our advocacy strategies. View all posts by Stephanie Agnew →

Northwestern Report Highlights the Need for Culture Change in Cook County’s Court System

The criminal legal system is divided into two main groups: insiders and outsiders. Court “insiders” include judges, clerks, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other court staff; essentially, the individuals who are familiar with the legal system and are not at court for personal affairs. Court “out...

ICYMI: Seeds of Justice Award Recordings Available Now

This year, 2022, marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Collaboration for Justice of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers. To begin our 25th anniversary celebration, we hosted Seeds of Justice - our annual pro bono acknowledgement event - on Tuesday, Ju...

All People Deserve Access to Their Rights – Especially Those as Foundational as the Presumption of Innocence

Cook County leads the nation in exonerations based on false confessions. Between 1972 and 1991, Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge tortured at least 119 people – most of whom were young Black men – in order to force false confessions. Cook County still lives in that legacy: Between January 1989 and...

More than 65 Community Groups Call on the City of Chicago to Focus on Root Causes of Violence Instead of Punishment

Every year, Chicago experiences rising temperatures coinciding with heightened gun violence. To combat this issue, Mayor Lightfoot announced plans for increasing the number of police on the street and stricter curfews. Instead of helping with violence, this will only increase the number of people be...

Policy Statement: Pass the Anjanette Young Ordinance & End “No-Knock” Warrants in Chicago

Introduction: Following the killings of Breonna Taylor and Amir Locke, and the endangerment of Anjanette Young and others from botched police raids, calls for warrant reform have been heard across the country. “No-knock” raids, such as the ones in which Breonna Taylor and Amir Locke were...

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