Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Thoughts on the Judicial Primary

We’re just past the March 2018 primary. Before the election, Vote for Judges received about 55,000 unique visitors with about 100,000 viewed/downloaded pages. The evaluations collected by Vote for Judges were aggregated through a number of ballot reference websites, like Ballot Ready. It’s great to...

Evidence-Based Reform and Gun Violence

Chicago Appleseed and Chicago Council of Lawyers have joined a letter urging Congress to formally repeal the Dickey Amendment that currently creates an effective ban on federal health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from conducting research into the causes, effects, and evidence-...

Community Groups Monitored Cook County’s Central Bond Court, Data Shows Reforms Haven’t Stopped the Jailing of People for Being Poor

Coalition to End Money Bond Press contacts: Sharlyn Grace, Chicago Appleseed, 773-946-8535, sharlyngrace@chicagoappleseed.org Irene Romulo, Chicago Community Bond Fund, 312-553-0995, irene@chicagobond.org Volunteers report that the rate of pretrial release has nearly doubled, but further ch...

Appleseed applauds efforts to curb illegally imposed criminal court fines, fees, and costs; Releases New Resource for Defense Attorneys

Two recent decisions by the Illinois Appellate Court, People v. Mullen and People v. Smith, reduced or eliminated certain court costs, fines, and fees imposed on people convicted of crimes in Cook County. These decisions criticized both “Illinois’s labyrinthine system of criminal fines and fees” a...

Statement of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice on HB 4113 to amend the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act

HB4113—a bill currently moving through the Illinois Legislature—aims to modify provisions of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act that affect the allocation of parenting time and responsibility. The bill would change the standard used by courts to restrict a parent’s time with the...