Chicago Appleseed -Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Illinois HB 163: Criminal Justice Omnibus

UPDATED: On January 13, 2020, the Illinois General Assembly voted to pass HB 3653, an amended version of HB 163, including the Pretrial Fairness Act (SFA2) which ends money bond. The Governor is expected to sign the legislation. Click here for more on the bill that passed. The criminal justic...

Letter to IDPH: Give People Incarcerated in Illinois Priority Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine

On December 21, 2020, Chicago Appleseed, the Chicago Council of Lawyers, the Coalition to End Money Bond, and over 60 other community-based organizations throughout Illinois sent a letter to Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), requesting that people incarcer...

We analyzed 536,000 CPD arrest records spanning a period from 2014 to 2020. Here’s what we found.

INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION Arrested and deprived of communication without being charged with a crime — incommunicado detention in Chicago. In film and on TV, stories about police and criminals have long made for captivating story lines and entertaining ways to stream episodes until 4 am. In a ty...

“Bail Reform” Worked in Cook County; Now, Pass the Pretrial Fairness Act and End Money Bond for Everyone in Illinois

A new report from nationally renowned criminal justice experts at Loyola University Chicago, Don Stemen and David Olson, shows that Cook County’s efforts to reduce the use of money bail and release more people pretrial did not cause any rise in crime. The report, “Dollars and Sense in Cook...

Then and Now: What Have We Learned from Chicago’s Past Attempts at Police Reform?

Published: November 3, 2020 By Elijah Gelman, Chicago Appleseed Intern For the third time in 14 years, Chicago is looking to overhaul its police oversight system. Two ordinances have been proposed: the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) and the Grassroots Alliance for Police Acc...

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