Chicago Appleseed -Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

One-Hour Access to Counsel in Police Stationhouses: A Cost-Saving Necessity

By Elijah Gelman, Chicago Appleseed Undergraduate Intern In January, Chicago Appleseed Senior Policy Analyst Sarah Staudt discussed the importance of newly proposed legislation cementing the right to counsel for every person arrested in Illinois within one-hour of arrest. Despite it being...

Examining “Cook County E-Court” and Looking Toward the Future of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Written by Sarah Bloomquist and Allison Leon In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, criminal courtrooms in Cook County were shuttered for all but limited proceedings beginning March 13, 2020, with judges allowed to hear only bond and preliminary hearings, arraignments, and guilty pleas. Th...

Cook County State’s Attorney Will Decline to Prosecute Peaceful Protestors

Beginning the weekend of May 29, thousands of people took to the streets in world-wide protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minnesota Police, calling for broad defunding of police departments nationwide as an explicit valuation of Black Lives. In...

CPD Barriers to Quality Stationhouse Representation

On Tuesday, June 23, Public Defender Amy Campanelli held a press conference to announce the filing of a lawsuit demanding the Chicago Police Department (CPD) abide by state law to provide a phone - and phone number for her stationhouse unit - to all arrested people within one-hour of detainment.&nbs...

Eliminating Money Bond is an Evidence-Based, Common Sense Approach to Combat Mass Incarceration

This morning, the Chicago Tribune published an attack on bail reform in Cook County. Today’s article attacked two respected organizations, the Chicago Community Bond Fund and The Bail Project, a national bond fund. As leaders in bail reform efforts, Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawye...

1 … 3 4 5 6 7 8