Category Archives: Collaboration for Justice

Written by Sarah Bloomquist, Undergraduate Intern (Summer 2020) Today, Chicago Council of Lawyers, Chicago Appleseed, and the Civic Federation release our joint report, New Directions for the Office of the Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court: Recommendations for Planning a...

Written by Sarah Bloomquist and Allison Leon In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, criminal courtrooms in Cook County were shuttered for all but limited proceedings beginning March 13, 2020, with judges allowed to hear only bond and preliminary hearings, arraignments, and g...

Both this morning and yesterday, the Chicago Tribune published an editorial and an analysis, respectively, attacking bail reform in Cook County and the State’s Attorney’s (SA) felony dismissal rates. The information published in their report on SA Kim Foxx  is...

Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed are happy to share The Network's campaign to fund domestic and sexual violence services. The Network has released a comprehensive report calling for the reallocation of $35-million from the budget of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to community se...

Following a recent report from the CDC that the Cook County Jail has been successful in containing the COVID-19 outbreak within its walls, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart was quick to tell the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday that he responded in the “quickest and most massive way.” Appea...

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 all...

On Friday, July 10, Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed submitted 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 partn...

This is a joint statement from the member organizations of the Coalition to End Money Bond. You can find its original publication here. On July 6, 2020, new Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown held a press conference about the Fourth of July weekend’s gun vi...

We're sharing the following news release from the Transit Table Coalition regarding its impact. Thousands of Illinoisans who lost driving privileges for non-driving violations like unpaid parking ticket debt join with community advocates to celebrate the License to Work Act, which becomes law...

We must not fund our courts, nor our government, through systems of fines and fees that present a disproportionate burden to our economically vulnerable community members. Reducing punitive fines and fees and restructuring enforcement mechanisms to relieve burdens on the most economically vulnera...