Criminal Courts Archives - Page 10 of 40 - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Illinois Pretrial Practices Data Oversight Board Provides Few Solutions

On July 1, 2022, the Pretrial Practices Data Oversight Board (“Board”) released a preliminary report in an effort to satisfy statutory requirements laid out in the Pretrial Fairness Act sections of Public Act 101-0652, known as the SAFE-T Act. Per the new law, the Board, convened last July by the Ad...

Amicus in People v. Moore: There is no justice when access is random or when the rules are unpredictable

In May, Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and Chicago Council of Lawyers joined an amicus brief submitted by the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in the Illinois Supreme Court case, People v. Moore. Our Collaboration for Justice is proud to add our sup...

Dynamics of Drug Possession Charges in Illinois, from Investigatory Stops to Sentences

B A C K G R O U N D Illinois is one of 18 states that makes possession of drugs (except cannabis) a felony in all cases. This means that possession, even of very small amounts of drugs, can lead to serious criminal legal system involvement. Felony arrests lead to pretrial jail time, often bec...

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...

Two Years In: Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Remote Court Proceedings

The need to preserve court access during the pandemic moved hearings online. Remote court hearings are expected to continue – even as the courts return to in-person proceedings. While the transition has raised some concerns related to due process and accessibility, there appear to be some benefits t...

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