Category Archives: Criminal Justice

Today, an ordinance (02023-904) to create enhanced penalties for “aggravated assault” on emergency workers, firefighters, and police officers – introduced by Alderman Matt O’Shea – passed Chicago City Council. This ordinance is the latest in a series of ordinances aimed at creating hefty municipal p...

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and Chicago Council of Lawyers work together to seek evidence-based solutions to social injustices. In early 2022, we began researching the issue of false reporting and police perjury — sometimes known as ”testilying” — in Circuit Court of Cook County. Our f...

On December 6, Governor Pritzker signed Public Act 102-1104, a trailer bill that clarifies aspects of the Pretrial Fairness Act to allow for the successful implementation of the state’s no-cash-bail system starting on January 1, 2023. Since the Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity – Today (S...

Entered at the end of September 2022, a newly signed consent decree, #LetUseBreathe Collective v. City of  Chicago, means people detained by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) must be given access to phones and lawyers in all detention facilities. This measure means to combat the coercive inte...