Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Summer 2019: Violence was down and Homicides were at their lowest in five years

Now that October has come and the summer is decidedly over, policy makers and journalists alike are engaging in a yearly, grim calculus: How bad was the gun violence in Chicago this summer? Did it get worse? Is it getting better? And most importantly, why? This summer, however, has been unusually p...

Merit-Based Judicial Retention in Illinois: A Viable Way to Improve the Quality of the State’s Judiciary

Merit-Based Judicial Retention in Illinois: A Viable Way to Improve the Quality of the State's Judiciary In 2014, Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) proposed to amend the Illinois constitution as a means to improve the way Illinois retains its judges. Her bill (HJRCA0010) suggested...

Victory in the Effort to Reform Chicago’s Ticket and Collection Practices

Following testimony earlier in the week, the Chicago City Council voted 49-1 to pass ordinance O2019-5547 on Wednesday, September 18, 2019. The ordinance takes the first steps toward reforming ticketing, payment plans, and ticket debt collection practices in the City of Chicago. The ordi...

Data Transparency around the use of Electronic Monitoring in Illinois (Policy Statement in Support of HB 0386)

Data Transparency around the use of Electronic Monitoring in Illinois: Policy Statement in Support of HB 0386 On August 9, 2019, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill (HB) 0386 into law. The legislation, which will go into effect on January 1, 2020, requires that the Illinois Departmen...

Call to Action: Help End Driver’s License Suspensions for Nonmoving Violations by Supporting the License to Work Act (SB 1786)

Help End Driver’s License Suspensions for Nonmoving Violations by Supporting the License to Work Act (SB 1786) Elizabeth Monkus is a Staff Attorney and the Development and Program Manager for Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice. If you have questions about the License to Work Act, you can email her...