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

The Coming Fees Crisis: Poverty Capitalism in the Courts

  This past week, two important pieces have appeared on NPR and the New York Times bringing attention to the increased practice of levying exploitive fines and fees on indigent people passing through the criminal and civil justice system. The first piece from NPR, based on a report of a S...
August 28, 2014

The Clerk of the Court Should Serve the Community

The Clerk of the Court of Cook County has considered—and apparently rejected—a policy change that would have charged all parties to receive the first copy of any order issued in their case. At Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, we are glad to learn that this policy won’t be adopte...
May 8, 2014
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