Access to Justice Archives - Page 7 of 13 - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

New Directions for the Office of the Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court: Recommendations for Planning and Transitioning to New Leadership

Written by Sarah Bloomquist, Chicago Appleseed Undergraduate Intern (Summer 2020) Today, Chicago Appleseed, the Chicago Council of Lawyers, and the Civic Federation release our joint report, New Directions for the Office of the Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court: Recommendations for Plann...

Examining “Cook County E-Court” and Looking Toward the Future of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Written by Sarah Bloomquist and Allison Leon In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, criminal courtrooms in Cook County were shuttered for all but limited proceedings beginning March 13, 2020, with judges allowed to hear only bond and preliminary hearings, arraignments, and guilty pleas. Th...

50+ Institutions Call on U.S. Senate Leadership to Pass the Driving for Opportunity Act

The Collaboration for Justice—Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers—have signed on to a letter of support from the Free to Drive Coalition in support of bipartisan federal legislation, the Driving For Opportunity Act of 2020, reforming driver’s license suspension for non-driving viola...

Cook County State’s Attorney Will Decline to Prosecute Peaceful Protestors

Beginning the weekend of May 29, thousands of people took to the streets in world-wide protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minnesota Police, calling for broad defunding of police departments nationwide as an explicit valuation of Black Lives. In...

Support for Changes to Chicago’s Vehicle Impoundment Ordinance

We must not fund our courts, nor our government, through systems of fines and fees that present a disproportionate burden to our economically vulnerable community members. Reducing punitive fines and fees and restructuring enforcement mechanisms to relieve burdens on the most economically vulner...

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