Decarceration Archives - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

VICTORY: Sheriff’s Electronic Monitoring Program Will be Phased Out!

This morning - Thursday, November 21, 2024 - the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to pass a budget amendment that significantly reduced funding for the Cook County Sheriff’s pretrial electronic monitoring (EM) program. This puts the county on track to consolidate the two EM programs into one...

NEW REPORT | One Size Doesn’t Fit All: A Review of Post-Plea Problem-Solving Courts in Cook County

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers are excited to release our new report, One Size Doesn’t Fit All: A Review of Post-Plea Problem-Solving Courts in Cook County. In it, we offer a holistic picture of the scope of specialty (or "problem-solving") courts, which...

Analysis of Eleven Jurisdictions Confirms: Bail Reform Does Not Cause Increased Crime Rates

As the Illinois Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Pretrial Fairness Act, it is vital to remember that abolition of money bail - and the decreased jail populations that will follow it - is a safe, just, and effective public policy. A new research report from the Gugge...

REPORT: Reducing Barriers to Recovery — Shifting Low-Level Drug Possession from Felonies to Misdemeanors in Illinois

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, the ACLU of Illinois, the Cook County Department of Public Health, and the Illinois Justice Project have released our joint report, Reducing Barriers to Recovery – Shifting Low-Level Drug Possession From Felonies to Misdemeanors in Illinois. Our report provi...