Bond Reform Measure Signed

“The county should not be using bond being posted by non-convicted individuals as a revenue source. It’s a tax on poor black and brown people primarily,” said Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey, quoted in a WBEZ story on a new law concerning processing fees in the criminal court. The measure cap...
August 26, 2015

Ensuring the Public Defense of Indigent Defendants in Cook County

The Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, a joint group of the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, has released a report on whether criminal defendants in Chicago’s felony preliminary hearing courtrooms receive the public defense required by the Sixth Amendment to t...
August 19, 2015

Victory for Fair Sentencing of Children

Last month, Illinois Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Children, Restore Justice Illinois and the Bluhm Legal Clinic celebrated the passage of their House Bill 2741. The Bill eliminates mandatory life-without-parole sentences for youth under 18 at the time of the offense and requires judges to co...
August 13, 2015

Amicus joined in the Illinois Appellate Court

Chicago Appleseed joined an amicus brief in Sanchez v Torres, in the Appellate Court of Illinois.  We joined with Loyola University Civitas ChildLaw Center, the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, the John Marshall Law School Domestic Vi...
August 11, 2015

Save the Date, October 16th

Save the Date! October 16, 2015 Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers will host their annual luncheon on Friday, October 16, 2015 at Maggiano’s Banquets on Grand Avenue. The reception begins at 11:30, with the lunch program beginning at 12:00. This year, we are honoring the success...
August 2, 2015