An Introduction to Illinois Redistricting

The 2010 Census results are in, and the big news is that Illinois has grown a mere 3% in the last decade, while Chicago has shrunk by nearly 7%, or 200,000 people. The data indicates that black and Hispanic Chicagoans are migrating from the city to the suburbs, taking up residence in Chicago’s so-ca...
February 17, 2011

Diversion Division: A Remedy for Racially Disproportionate Drug Enforcement

This post originally appeared at the Huffington Post. In Illinois last week, a statutorily mandated, unbiased committee, the Disproportionate Justice Impact Study (DJIS) Commission, reported the latest evidence confirming a long-held suspicion -- that the war on drugs undermines African American...
February 9, 2011

Chicago Appleseed Promotes Community Schools in “Same Starting Line” Report

Today, Appleseed, Chicago Appleseed's national affiliate, released a major report that reveals significant resource disparities between high poverty schools and their middle and upper class counterparts. Entitled "The Same Starting Line: How School Boards Can Erase the Opportunity Gap Between Poor a...
February 3, 2011

Questioning Civil Law Suits Used in the War on Crime

In a Chicago Tribune story, Elgin police credited their city’s civil lawsuit against some 70 reputed Latin Kings gang members with an apparent dip in crime during the winter months and suggest that civil suits should be used more liberally as a weapon in the war on crime.  But shortly after the suit...
January 28, 2011

Who Ruled that Rahm Couldn’t Run?

Whenever big political decisions come before little known judges, all eyes are on the bench. Since 1970, the Chicago Council for Lawyers (Chicago Appleseed’s partner organization), has been reviewing the performance of judges serving on Cook County Circuit Courts, as well as 1st District Candidates...
January 26, 2011