Injustice Watch (https://www.injusticewatch.org/commentary/page/2/)
The corrections department offers no answer on whether any inmates have benefited from the new state law that encourages early release for prisoners who qualify. Politics appears to be blocking an answer.
The author, an attorney active in prison reform, writes, “The only thing worse than the way parole works in Illinois is to have no parole.”
Rob Warden details the circumstances of Alstory Simon’s repeated confessions to murder and concludes: Northwestern University disgraced itself by settling Simon’s lawsuit against the school.
George Leighton was a legal giant, appointed to the federal district court with bipartisan support. But could he even have been confirmed today?
While Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal to restore the death penalty is a terrible idea for Illinois, the silver lining is that the proposal would be a step in the right direction for 31 states that still employ the practice.
Tens of thousands of individuals have been victimized by perpetrators who would have been locked up had the criminal justice system worked properly, the authors’ research shows. The problem is not just the wrongful conviction, but also the wrongful liberty of the culprit.
Jonathan Lubin, past chairman of the evaluation committee for the Decalogue Society, offers a commentary describing the arduous process that groups go through to be fair and accurate in their assessments of each judicial candidate.
The Illinois Supreme Court has filled a key state post: The head appellate defender for indigents. It was a job opening that attracted little notice or attention; James Chadd, a deputy defender, has won the post.
Illinois court officials are working to fill a key job: The chief state appellate lawyer. The agency is facing a large backlog, and potential budget crisis, a situation where innovative leadership is critical. Yet poor outreach has left the pool of applicants disturbingly tiny.
Ronnie Carrasquillo has been locked in prison for decades, since being convicted of murdering a cop in 1976. As evidence mounts that the conviction, and sentence, were wrongly imposed by a corrupt judge, Rob Warden wonders: Where is the new state’s attorney?