Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Undermining Transparency & Accountability, Federal Court Ruling Allows CPD to Disable Body-Worn Cameras after Officer-Involved Shootings

In January of 2024, the Illinois Attorney General moved for judicial resolution in a dispute with the City of Chicago over the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) body-worn camera policy. Following the cover-up of the CPD’s murder of Laquan McDonald, the federal government implemented a consen...

NEW REPORT—What We Don’t Know About the Courts: The Far-Reaching Consequences of the Judicial Exemption to the FOIA in Illinois

In our newly published report, What We Don’t Know About the Courts: The Far-Reaching Consequences of the Judicial Exemption to the FOIA in Illinois, Chicago Appleseed explains the judicial exemption from Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and this exemption’s broad consequences for data tra...

One Year Later, Still “Punishing Fear”: How the Criminalization of Gun Possession Has Changed in a Year

One year ago, Chicago Appleseed published a report about the rampant criminalization of gun possession in Cook County, titled Punishing Fear: The Devastating Impacts of the War on Gun Possession in Chicago. One week later, Eileen O’Neill Burke was elected as Cook County State’s Attorney, and her adm...

ICYMI: Recap of “Who’s Your Jailer?” Event—December 10, 2025

On Wednesday evening, Naomi and I participated in a community teach-in, "Who's Your Jailer?," hosted by the Cook County Coalition for Prosecutor Accountability (C3PA), where we discussed Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s policies and their consequences. The panel also featured publ...

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday

Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 2nd, is Giving Tuesday. The #GivingTuesday movement, which started in 2012, follows Thanksgiving annually as a day focused on radical generosity—small acts of “care, love, and understanding extended outward” in support of one’s community. This year, w...