Court Costs, Fines, and Fees Are Bad Policy

Across the country, regressive court fines, administrative costs, and filing fees are functioning to penalize people solely for their poverty. Court costs, fines, and fees (also known as “monetary sanctions”) exist in both the civil and criminal realms of the justice system and are applied in al...
July 23, 2020

Amicus Brief filed in the Illinois Appellate Case of People v. Gomez-Ramirez

On Friday, July 10, Chicago Appleseed and Chicago Council of Lawyers submit an amicus brief in the Illinois appellate case of People v. Gomez-Ramirez (AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center, Bolingbrook, and Alexian Brothers-AHS Midwest Region Health Co., Contemnors-Appellants). Our pro bono partners...
July 13, 2020

Chicago Police Superintendent Wrongfully Blames Gun Violence on Bond Reform

On July 6, 2020, new Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown held a press conference about the Fourth of July weekend’s gun violence. Between 6 PM on Thursday, July 2, and 5 AM on Monday, July 6, 87 people were shot in the city, and 17 of those people died. Tragically, the victims shot...
July 9, 2020

Cook County State’s Attorney Will Decline to Prosecute Peaceful Protestors

Beginning the weekend of May 29, thousands of people took to the streets in world-wide protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minnesota Police, calling for broad defunding of police departments nationwide as an explicit valuation of Black Lives. In...
July 1, 2020