Links of Interest

What We Read, September 19-23, 2011 Criminal Justice Court Reform: Youth Today runs through the 2012 funding legislation approved by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science last week. The spending bill eliminates most federal funding for juvenile justice programs....
September 23, 2011

Community-Involved Efforts Lead to Record CPS Attendance Levels

Chicago Public Schools enjoyed a 94.7% attendance rate on the district's first day of school. The turnout this Tuesday marks a four-year high, and a jump from 92.9% last year. CPS attributes the turnout largely to coordinated efforts among the schools, community organizations, and families. One of...
September 9, 2011

CPS Principal Pay-for-Performance Plan Opens the Door for Community Schools

Merit pay is a notoriously tricky business. Reward short-term returns and you hang the future out to dry. Or, as we've seen in a growing number of school districts across the country, you run the risk of teachers and administrators taking shortcuts (ie, cheating) to grab the brass ring. Mayor Emman...
August 22, 2011

More incarceration does not equal less crime.

The ACLU posted a fascinating infographic this week. The above graphic compares the change incarceration rates and the change in crime rates from 1999 to 2009. Illinois' prison population has skyrocketed since 1970, but has not grown considerably in the past decade, as illustrated by this chart pr...
August 18, 2011

Judicial Independence, Impartiality and the Ethics of Recusal

National Public Radio ran a long piece on judicial ethics and recusal on Morning Edition this morning. The piece discussed instances in the past few years where Justices’ spouses, personal lives, or private speaking engagements caused criticism, particularly where Justices did not recuse themselves...
August 17, 2011