drug policy Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

The ACT Initiative Is Bringing Best Practices to Cook County’s Criminal Courts

In 2013, Chicago Appleseed helped the Circuit Court of Cook County design and establish the Access to Community Treatment (ACT) Court, an Adult Redeploy Illinois program. Like all ARI initiatives, the ACT Court was designed to divert people charged with nonviolent crimes from the Illinois prison sys...

Drug Field-Testing As Criminal Justice Reform: Responding to Criticisms in Context

Earlier this month, both The New York Times and The Marshall Project ran excellent stories on how roadside field tests for drugs can return false positives that send innocent people to jail or even cause them to plead guilty when they did not possess drugs. The articles, “How a $2 Roadside Drug Test...

Field Testing in Drug Arrests

Earlier this month, both The New York Times and The Marshall Project ran excellent stories on how a roadside field tests for drugs can return false positives that send innocent people to jail or even cause them to plead guilty when they did not possess drugs. The articles highlighted alarming uses o...

ACT Court Milestone

Last week, the Access to Community Treatment Court achieved a major milestone, celebrating its first graduation for individuals who have successfully completed the problem-solving court program. 16 individuals were recognized for their efforts. Several graduates shared powerful remarks about their...

Illinois State Capitol, Photo by Daniel Schwen

Drug Field Testing Bill Passes

Last week, HB0356, a bill establishing a pilot drug field-testing program for the city of Chicago passed both houses of the Illinois legislature. The bill, chiefly sponsored by Representative Zalewski in the House and Senator Harmon in the Senate, was developed in collaboration with Chicago...

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