Jonah Newman, Editor at Injustice Watch

Jonah Newman

Jonah Newman manages Injustice Watch’s editorial team, edits stories about the court system, and oversees the production of our judicial election guides. Before joining Injustice Watch in 2019, Jonah worked at Pacific Standard magazine, the Chicago Reporter, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Born and raised in Minnesota, he has lived in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood for nearly a decade.

A collage of illustrations and photos from Injustice Watch stories from 2025.

Staff News & Awards

Injustice Watch’s best work of 2025

Revisit some of our team’s outstanding reporting from this past year, including our investigations into tax foreclosures, a rogue forensics lab, juvenile detention, wrongful convictions, and the county’s first new chief judge in nearly a quarter-century.

by Jonah Newman December 26, 2025

A collage of photos and illustrations from Injustice Watch's work this year.

Staff News & Awards

Year in review: Injustice Watch’s best work of 2024

Our team published two judicial election guides and investigated jail deaths, juvenile arrests, housing court, and more. Revisit some of our best work from the past year.

by Jonah Newman December 23, 2024

Associate Judges

Cook County Judge Vazquez loses retention vote

Vazquez, who was set to retire next month, was the only Cook County associate judge who was not reappointed to a new four-year term. The vote follows reporting by Injustice Watch about the judge’s actions inside and outside the courtroom.

by Jonah Newman June 8, 2023January 31, 2024

Illustration showing a courthouse with a lock and chain around it and papers floating above that read "Secret".

It’s time to make Illinois courts subject to the public-records law

For decades, Illinois courts have written themselves out of the state’s Freedom of Information Act. A new bill could change that and bring much-needed transparency to the court system.

by Jonah Newman February 21, 2023July 10, 2025

Judges

Evans elected to record 8th term as Cook County chief judge

Judge Timothy Evans was unopposed in his bid to remain Cook County’s top judge, a post he has held for 21 years.

by Jonah Newman September 13, 2022December 5, 2023

A small bed in a darkly lit detention center room with brick walls and a single sink-toilet. There's a mural on the back wall with a bird and the words "Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

Youth Incarceration

Cook County juvenile jail using ‘semantics’ to hide many hours youths are isolated: report

Most youths at the jail ‘are locked in their cells for most of the day, every day,’ possibly resulting in long-term damage to their mental health, according to a committee convened last year by Chief Judge Tim Evans.

by Jonah Newman and Carlos Ballesteros August 23, 2022January 8, 2024

Campaign signs for the 2022 Cook County primary elections stuck in a grassy median

2022 Primary

Winners and losers of the 2022 Cook County judicial primary election

Cook County voters picked a new class of circuit court and appellate court judges in Tuesday’s primary election. With election officials reporting abysmal voter turnout, some judicial subcircuit races were decided by a few thousand votes.

by Maya Dukmasova and Jonah Newman June 29, 2022December 5, 2023

Judicial Conduct

Judicial watchdog files complaint against appellate judge accused of interfering in nephew’s case

The charges allege Harris spoke with two judges hearing an appeal involving his nephew, an allegation first reported by Injustice Watch in 2020.

by Jonah Newman May 2, 2022January 31, 2024

Judicial Conduct

Illinois Appellate Court Judge Sheldon Harris announces retirement, creating vacancy for June primary

Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Ehrlich confirmed to Injustice Watch that he plans to run for Harris’ appellate court seat.

by Jonah Newman March 16, 2022January 31, 2024

State Rep. Justin Slaughter, center, holds up his fist while wearing a black glove after the SAFE-T Act passed the Illinois House.

Bail and Pretrial

Illinois criminal justice reformers won a historic legislative victory in 2021. But the law they passed isn’t a done deal.

The same forces that fought against the SAFE-T Act when it was introduced in January are still looking for ways to change the historic criminal justice reform law.

by Emanuella Evans, Adeshina Emmanuel and Jonah Newman November 3, 2021January 8, 2024

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