Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

UChicago Crime Lab Report: Blaming Electronic Monitoring for Violence is Not Supported by the Data

Electronic monitoring (EM) is a form of incarceration in which a person is ordered to wear an ankle shackle that records their location. In Cook County, the Sheriff runs a pretrial electronic monitoring program that combines location monitoring with house arrest. Individuals charged with crimes—who...

Primary Election Results: Voter Turnout was Low, but Judicial Races Weren’t Neglected

Preliminary results are in from the 2022 primary election in Illinois, which included a number of judicial races. Primary turn-out was disappointing – the “second-lowest for a modern-era primary” – with only 1-in-5 Chicago voters participating and suburban Cook County showing a similar turn-out rate...

Illinois Pretrial Practices Data Oversight Board Provides Few Solutions

On July 1, 2022, the Pretrial Practices Data Oversight Board (“Board”) released a preliminary report in an effort to satisfy statutory requirements laid out in the Pretrial Fairness Act sections of Public Act 101-0652, known as the SAFE-T Act. Per the new law, the Board, convened last July by the Ad...

Amicus in People v. Moore: There is no justice when access is random or when the rules are unpredictable

In May, Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and Chicago Council of Lawyers joined an amicus brief submitted by the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in the Illinois Supreme Court case, People v. Moore. Our Collaboration for Justice is proud to add our sup...

ICYMI: Seeds of Justice Award Recordings Available Now

This year, 2022, marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Collaboration for Justice of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers. To begin our 25th anniversary celebration, we hosted Seeds of Justice - our annual pro bono acknowledgement event - on Tuesday, Ju...