Category Archives: Criminal Justice

Introduction: Following the killings of Breonna Taylor and Amir Locke, and the endangerment of Anjanette Young and others from botched police raids, calls for warrant reform have been heard across the country.  “No-knock” raids, such as the ones in which Breonna Taylor and Amir Locke were...

This week, the Illinois Retail Merchants’ Association succeeded in convincing the Illinois General Assembly to introduce legislation targeted at reducing “organized retail theft.” Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers vehemently opposed the bill, HB 1091, which...

The Collaboration for Justice of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, along with a coalition of supporting organizations, have released an open letter to the Illinois Resentencing Task Force urging them to be guided by a set of shared principles for earned rel...

On Friday, January 21, 2022, Program Manager & Policy Analyst for Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, Hanna Sharif-Kazemi, provided comments to the Chicago City Council's Public Safety Committee in opposition of Mayor Lightfoot's proposed "Victims Justice...

On Monday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot held a press conference in response to the rising gun violence in Chicago, calling for an increase in pretrial jailing through a “moratorium” on pretrial electronic monitoring and doubling down on antiquated economic punishments, like civil asset forfeiture fo...