Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

All People Deserve Access to Their Rights – Especially Those as Foundational as the Presumption of Innocence

Cook County leads the nation in exonerations based on false confessions. Between 1972 and 1991, Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge tortured at least 119 people – most of whom were young Black men – in order to force false confessions. Cook County still lives in that legacy: Between January 1989 and...

More than 65 Community Groups Call on the City of Chicago to Focus on Root Causes of Violence Instead of Punishment

Every year, Chicago experiences rising temperatures coinciding with heightened gun violence. To combat this issue, Mayor Lightfoot announced plans for increasing the number of police on the street and stricter curfews. Instead of helping with violence, this will only increase the number of people be...

Two Years In: Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Remote Court Proceedings

The need to preserve court access during the pandemic moved hearings online. Remote court hearings are expected to continue – even as the courts return to in-person proceedings. While the transition has raised some concerns related to due process and accessibility, there appear to be some benefits t...

Policy Statement: Pass the Anjanette Young Ordinance & End “No-Knock” Warrants in Chicago

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...

Community Resource: “Know Your Rights” in Immigration Courts

Part of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts’ mission to create equitable, accessible courts includes providing free educational information for legislators, researchers, journalists, and community members as they navigate the opaque court systems of Cook County and Illinois. Our Community Resou...