Links of Interest — May 13, 2011

Court Reform/Judicial Accountability Chicago Appleseed is working on a proposal to make information about campaign contributions to judicial candidates more easily-accessible to attorneys and litigants who appear before those judges. It is with interest we noticed that Facebook has asked the Feder...
May 13, 2011

Diversion Court a Must for Justice and Economy

This article originally appeared at the Huffington Post. Imagine a program that saves Cook County at least $20 million per year while reducing crime, incarceration, and unemployment. This is no fantasy -- it's called diversion court, and Cook County can and should implement it right away. Last fal...
May 13, 2011

Chicago Transition 2011 includes Parent and Community Engagement Plan

This week, the Chicago Tribune's "Clout Street" blog reported, Mayor-elect Rahm Emmanuel released a "Chicago 2011 Transition Plan" listing his administration's objectives and strategies for achieving them. The 72-page document, available here, outlines 55 initiatives falling within four categories:...
May 11, 2011

Volunteer Court-Watching

Our next training session for volunteer court-watchers, assisting the Judicial Performance Commission of Cook County, is May 26 at our office at 11:00 am. The training lasts a little over an hour and explains both the mechanics of our court-watching program, as well as the goals and procedures of th...
May 9, 2011

Links of Interest for May 1-6, 2011

Criminal Justice University of Virginia Law Professor Brandon Garrett discusses at Slate false confessions and eyewitness testimony in the wake of Illinois abolishing the death penalty.  New York’s Chief Judge is working to create a system which provides counsel to indigent defendants at arraig...
May 5, 2011