County and City officials have taken bold yet prudent steps toward sensible, cost-effective public safety policies. The County has expanded use of electronic monitoring and the City is now considering issuing a fine in lieu [...]

Chicago Public Schools enjoyed a 94.7% attendance rate on the district's first day of school. The turnout this Tuesday marks a four-year high, and a jump from 92.9% last year. CPS attributes the turnout largely [...]

Merit pay is a notoriously tricky business. Reward short-term returns and you hang the future out to dry. Or, as we've seen in a growing number of school districts across the country, you run the [...]

Criminal Justice Court Reform: Even conservative states are adopting lighter sentencing policies in response to unsustainable prison costs, reports the New York Times. Matthew Iglesias questions the social, political, and economic rationale behind increasingly curtailing [...]

The ACLU posted a fascinating infographic this week. The above graphic compares the change incarceration rates and the change in crime rates from 1999 to 2009. Illinois' prison population has skyrocketed since 1970, but has [...]

The War on Drugs is now in its ripe middle age, turning 40 this month. But its birthday hasn't been an especially pleasant one.