Prosecutorial Discretion in a Tumultuous Year

Today, Chicago Appleseed, Chicago Council of Lawyers, The People's Lobby, and Reclaim Chicago release "Prosecutorial Discretion in a Tumultuous Year," the seventh report in our series on the impact of prosecutorial discretion on incarceration and punitive punishment in Cook County since State’s Atto...

Court Costs, Fines, and Fees Are Bad Policy

Across the country, regressive court fines, administrative costs, and filing fees are functioning to penalize people solely for their poverty. Court costs, fines, and fees (also known as “monetary sanctions”) exist in both the civil and criminal realms of the justice system and are applied in al...

Report: The 2012 Judicial Performance Commission

The 2012 Judicial Performance Commission of Cook County (JPC or Commission) has completed its evaluations of the Circuit Court and Appellate Court Judges whose terms expire this year. The Report is available here as a .pdf download. Each judge’s report consists of a professional biography (compiled...