Court Costs, Fines, and Fees Are Bad Policy

Across the country, regressive court fines, administrative costs, and filing fees are functioning to penalize people solely for their poverty. Court costs, fines, and fees (also known as “monetary sanctions”) exist in both the civil and criminal realms of the justice system and are applied in al...
July 23, 2020

Chicago Police Superintendent Wrongfully Blames Gun Violence on Bond Reform

On July 6, 2020, new Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown held a press conference about the Fourth of July weekend’s gun violence. Between 6 PM on Thursday, July 2, and 5 AM on Monday, July 6, 87 people were shot in the city, and 17 of those people died. Tragically, the victims shot...
July 9, 2020

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...
July 1, 2020

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...
June 26, 2020