Pretrial Fairness – Chicago Council of Lawyers

Pretextual Vehicle Stops—A Pipeline to Police Testilying

Our January 2023 police perjury report convincingly demonstrates that the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has a culture that condones dishonesty, prevalent lying in court (“testilying”) and, false report-writing by police officers. Along with recommendations to improve transparency (some of which ha...

We’ve Joined 400+ Organizations in Urging the Illinois Supreme Court to Affirm the Constitutionality of the Pretrial Fairness Act

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers have joined the 37 members of the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice and 389 other national, state, and local organizations in submitting an amicus brief to the Illinois Supreme Court in the case of Rowe vs. Raoul, which...

NEW REPORT: Fear and Silence – How Culture, Policy, and the ”Win At All Costs” Mentality Allows Police Testilying to Thrive

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and Chicago Council of Lawyers work together to seek evidence-based solutions to social injustices. In early 2022, we began researching the issue of false reporting and police perjury — sometimes known as ”testilying” — in Circuit Court of Cook County. Our fi...

All People Deserve Access to Their Rights – Especially Those as Foundational as the Presumption of Innocence

Cook County leads the nation in exonerations based on false confessions. Between 1972 and 1991, Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge tortured at least 119 people – most of whom were young Black men – in order to force false confessions. Cook County still lives in that legacy: Betwe...

REPORT: 10 Facts about Pretrial Electronic Monitoring in Cook County

The Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts have released a report, 10 Facts about Pretrial Electronic Monitoring in Cook County, which catalogs data-based facts about the Cook County Sheriff’s Electronic Monitoring (EM) Program to help the public understand the bread...

Response to Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown’s Ongoing Attacks on the Independence of the Judiciary

During a traffic stop on August 7, Chicago Police Department (CPD) Officer Ella French was shot and killed, and her partner was critically wounded. In the wake of this terrible event, emotions are understandably high as Officer French’s colleagues and loved ones continue to grieve and grapple with t...

Ending Money Bail Makes Communities Safer, Fairer, and Protects Due Process

This statement from the Chicago Council of Lawyers was originally published in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin on March 22, 2021. Click here for the article. On February 22, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a landmark criminal justice reform package—the Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equit...

VICTORY: Governor Pritzker Abolishes Money Bail by Signing HB 3653 – The SAFE-T Act – into Law

On Monday, February 22, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed HB 3653 SFA2: the SAFE-T (Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity – Today) Act. The bill was sponsored in the 101st General Assembly by Senator Robert Peters, Senator Elgie Sims, and Representative Justin Slaughter as part of the Illinois...

Letter to Governor Pritzker: Support for HB 3653

On January 13, 2021, the Illinois General Assembly passed a historic criminal justice reform package (presented by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus). Among the many provisions in the 764 page bill is the Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA) – a comprehensive proposal that ends mon...

VICTORY: Illinois Just Passed the Pretrial Fairness Act and Ended Money Bail

After years of advocacy by the Coalition to End Money Bond – including Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers – and thousands of other organizers across the state, the Illinois Legislature just became the first in the nation to abolish money bail by passing HB 3653 SFA2. Once Governor...

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