Prosecutors said they plan to retry Darien Harris, who was sentenced to 76 years in prison for a 2011 murder in Woodlawn based on the eyewitness testimony of a man who it was later discovered was legally blind.
Posted inJuvenile Courts, Youth Incarceration
Most juvenile detention centers in Illinois are failing to meet state standards
Audit reports show juvenile detention centers across the state are overusing room confinement and providing insufficient mental health services to youths in custody, among other issues.
Posted inHousing
Mayor Johnson sets sights on enshrining right to counsel for Chicago tenants in eviction court
Despite a lack of data on the right-to-counsel pilot program, city officials and advocates say expanding it is a necessary step to help stem the tide of evictions in Chicago.
Posted inProsecutors
Chicago man becomes first in Illinois to get reduced sentence under new law
A law passed in 2021 empowered prosecutors to revisit excessive sentences, but so far, only two people have been released. Said one: ‘Two years into it, it’s helped two people?’
Posted inThe Long Wait
Appellate court throws out ‘excessive sentence’ for Chicago man denied parole over 30 times
Ronnie Carrasquillo will be resentenced after 46 years in prison after an appellate court panel ruled he has not been given a ‘meaningful’ opportunity for parole by the state’s Prisoner Review Board. The ruling follows a 2017 Injustice Watch series, “The Long Wait,” which examined the board’s opaque process.
Posted inParole and Clemency
Pritzker defends denials of medical release requests from dying and disabled prisoners
“We’re not just going to push everybody out the door just because there’s somebody who complains that we haven’t done it the way they would like it done,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in response to an Injustice Watch and WBEZ investigation.
Posted inParole and Clemency
Dying and disabled Illinois prisoners kept behind bars, despite new medical release law
The Joe Coleman Medical Release Act was expected to have freed hundreds of terminally ill and medically incapacitated prisoners in Illinois by now. But only a few dozen have been released, an investigation from Injustice Watch and WBEZ reveals.
Posted inExploited Elders
Citi wealth adviser accused of steering older clients into money-losing film projects
The horror film producer is accused in court docs of soliciting investments from elder clients, part of what experts say is a growing national trend of financial professionals preying on older Americans and their bank accounts.
Posted inExploited Elders
Probate court cases illustrate Illinois’ broken adult protection system
In a letter to a social service agency, the Cook County Public Guardian criticized a lack of state intervention in several instances in which older adults with disabilities were being defrauded.
Posted in2024 Primary, Judges, Judicial Elections, Projects
Cook County Democrats back Illinois Supreme Court Justice Cunningham and slate of judicial candidates for 2024
In a political ritual preceding every election cycle, those who want to be judges appear at a colorful meeting to vie for the support of Democratic power brokers. The slating event is often a strong indication of who will become a judge.