Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Pretrial Fairness – Beyond Ending Money Bond

Chicago Appleseed is a founding member of the Coalition to End Money Bond. Since 2016, we have been pushing criminal justice system decision-makers and our legislators to get rid of the discriminatory, unconstitutional, and ineffective practice of holding people in custody while...

Current System for Investigating Sexual Misconduct Complaints Against CPD Officers Welcomes Bias

Chicago City Council Should Authorize COPA to Investigate Complaints of Sexual Misconduct Against Chicago Police Officers A letter of recommendation from the Civil Liberties & Police Accountability Committee of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed, written by Co...

Ending Code of Silence Policies in the Chicago Police Department’s Collective Bargaining Agreements

The Coalition for Police Contracts Accountability (CPCA) offers recommendations to end the provisions in Chicago Police Department’s Collective Bargaining Agreements that perpetuate the “Code of Silence” According to the Better Government Association (BGA), it was estimated in 2018 that...

Judicial Recusal & Confidence in Our Courts

This fall, the issue of judicial recusal has returned to the forefront in Illinois, with the indictments against Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke’s husband, Chicago Alderman Ed Burke. In particular, WBEZ reported at least 10 instances in which Justice Burke decided cases involving parties who, at th...

Understanding the Administrative Child Support Process in Illinois

Illinois offers two parallel tracks for parents needing child support orders: the civil court, or judicial system, and the administrative system of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (DHFS). The former is the process known to most people and thought of as typical. A variety of...