pretrial fairness Archives - Page 3 of 21 - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

New Year, New State’s Attorney, Higher Jail Population in Cook County

Written by Julian D. Cohen, Brown University, and Kamiryn Braxton Grimes, University of Chicago. Under Cook County’s new State’s Attorney, Eileen O’Neill Burke, who assumed office in December of 2024, the county has experienced a substantial rise in its jail population. In just the first six...

Victory: Pretrial Success Grant Program Preserved, Funding Kept for Critical Pretrial Services

On May 31, the Illinois General Assembly passed its annual budget, including a measure to ensure continued funding of the Pretrial Success grant program. Established in 2024 as part of the Pretrial Success Act, the program funds organizations that provide voluntary services aimed at ensuring individ...

Open Letter to the Cook County State’s Attorney: Coalition of 136 Organizations and Community Members Oppose the Felony Review Bypass Program

This morning, a group of 38 organizations and 98 community members, including 8 Chicago Police District Councilors, sent an open letter to Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke urging her to end the Felony Review Bypass Program for gun possession cases in Chicago Police Department Distri...

State’s Attorney’s Felony Review Bypass Program Hinders Due Process and Gives Police Power To File Felony Gun Possession Charges

In January, Cook County State’s Attorney O’Neill Burke began piloting a new program in the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) 7th District (Englewood), changing the rules for how gun possession felony charges are filed. The program has now been expanded to the CPD’s 5th District (Calumet), which is i...

Support for the FAIR Act to Improve Illinois’ Public Defense Crisis

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts has proudly given our support to HB3363, also known as the Funded Advocacy & Independent Representation (FAIR) Act, which successfully passed out of the Illinois House last week. The FAIR Act would create an Office of State Public Defender in Illinois...

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