Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers Urge Governor Quinn to Veto Bill Which Will Reduce Minority Representation on Juries

Published on: December 12, 2014 On December 11, 2014, Chicago Appleseed and Chicago Council of Lawyers sent the following request to Governor Quinn: ___________________ Dear Governor Quinn: On behalf of Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, I am writing to ur...

A Police Accountability Policy Recommendation from the Chicago Council of Lawyers

Chicago Should Annually Disclose Police Officers Named in a High Number of Complaints December 2014 by the Chicago Council of Lawyers' Civil Liberties Committee I. Recommendation. Consistent with the March 2014 ruling of the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court in Kalven v. City of Chic...

Judge Gloria Chevere Re-Assigned for Wrongfully Jailing Defendants

Last week, the Chicago Tribune reported that Cook County Criminal Court Judge Gloria Chevere was re-assigned to a non-trial civil administration call, following a report that she was wrongly jailing defendants for contempt. The re-assignment order for Judge Chevere also assigns the Judge to a peer m...

[VIDEO] Chicago Appleseed on “In The Loop” Channel 20 (PBS WYCC), discussing Bond Court

I was a panelist on the November 20th episode of "In The Loop" on Channel 20 (PBS Chicago, WYCC) at 7:00pm CST. My co-panelists were former Public Defender of Cook County, Professor Randolph Stone and Commissioner John Fritchey. The topic was reforming Cook County's Bond Court. As we've discusse...

California Votes to Downgrade Drug Crimes: Is Illinois Next?

On November 4, 2014, voters in California changed yesterday’s felony drug possession into today’s misdemeanor. Voters passed a significant ballot measure, Proposition 47, a criminal reform initiative to dramatically reduce the punishment for a variety of crimes. The passage of Proposition 47 made C...