The Illinois Access to Justice Act

Governor Quinn signed the Access to Justice Act, HB3111, on Thursday, August 15, 2013. Although the bill is aimed primarily at helping veterans and active duty servicemembers who are facing civil lawsuits, the law also provides funding for legal self-help centers in law libraries, creates a task f...
August 21, 2013

Appleseed Position Statement on S.744

Appleseed Position Statement on S.744: Improving the Accuracy, Legitimacy and Efficiency of the United States Immigration Court System   Appleseed applauds the Senate Judiciary Committee’s recent significant consensus on S.744 and enthusiastically supports several aspects of the proposed legis...
June 3, 2013

Policy Brief: Community Courts in Cook County

Today we release a two-part policy brief discussing an alternative prosecution strategy called community-based justice. Part I makes the case for community-base justice by comparing Cook County’s current misdemeanor justice system--which adjudicates over 150,000 misdemeanors annually (pdf)--with com...
February 27, 2013

Policy Brief: Judicial Recusal

Last month, Chicago Appleseed shared a policy brief on judicial recusal standards with the Illinois Supreme Court. The policy brief, written by staff attorney Elizabeth Monkus with assistance from staff intern Sarah Swearer, focuses on the features of meaningful recusal standards and procedures.  Sp...
January 18, 2013

Policy Brief: Use of Data in Criminal Court Performance Measurement

Our latest policy brief, "Use of Data in Criminal Court Performance Measurement" is now available. This brief explores the benefits of measuring criminal court performance, shares two case studies of where doing so has been successful, and then offers one potential application to Cook County: t...
December 3, 2012