court debt Archives - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

“Waiving the Waiver”: Low-income Defendants Forced to Choose Between Plea Deals and Court Debt

Written by Grace Coolidge, Northwestern University, Class of 2025. In 2018, Governor Rauner signed the Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act (CTAA) into Illinois law, aiming to simplify and standardize court fees and assessments across the state. The CTAA was also intended to protect low-income...

Support for Changes to Chicago’s Vehicle Impoundment Ordinance

We must not fund our courts, nor our government, through systems of fines and fees that present a disproportionate burden to our economically vulnerable community members. Reducing punitive fines and fees and restructuring enforcement mechanisms to relieve burdens on the most economically vulner...

Clean Slate Subcommittee for Child Support

Chicago Appleseed is proud to participate in the Clean Slate Subcommittee for the Child Support Advisory Committee to HFS and the courts in Illinois. Clean Slate is a program intended to help parents with child support debt clear the money owed to the state and end their cycle of debt. The subcommit...

The Stories Behind Criminal Justice Debt, pt.2

By Lindsay Hagy, Pro Bono Volunteer and Chair of the Court Costs, Fines, and Fees Working Group This week Governor Rauner signed HB 4594, The Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act, into law. The law will go into effect in 2019 and will help many Illinoisans who could be negatively impacted by...

Governor Rauner Signs The Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act into Law!

Chicago Appleseed is excited to share that yesterday, Governor Rauner signed HB 4594- The Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act into law. The Act reforms Illinois’ system of court costs, fines, and fees and reduces the burden of court costs, fines, and fees on Illinoisans who can’t afford to pay them....

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