Projects
Injustice Watch projects investigate issues of equity and justice in the Cook County court system, center and engage people who are directly affected or harmed, and provide information the public can use to hold powerful systems and institutions accountable.
Latest project
How a rogue Chicago forensics lab got people convicted for driving high
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All Projects
An Injustice Watch investigation found thousands of lower-income renters in Chicago are trapped in unsafe buildings, forced to pay rising rents, even as many landlords are allowed to shirk their responsibilities to keep buildings safe, warm, and free of rats.
Every two years, Cook County voters go to the polls to elect new judges and decide whether to retain sitting judges. We research every judicial candidate and provide comprehensive, nonpartisan voter guides for each Cook County judicial election.
Reporting by Carlos Ballesteros
Eighteen people died at the jail in 2023, and half of the deaths featured examples of inadequate supervision and medical care, an Injustice Watch investigation found.
Reporting by David Jackson
Illinois’ system for protecting older adults from financial exploitation leaves them more vulnerable to harm and isolation. Victims often end up as wards of the Cook County Public Guardian, whose office takes control of their finances and care in probate court.
Reporting by Carlos Ballesteros
The Chicago Police Department denied hundreds of immigrant crime victims a path to citizenship through the U visa program, sometimes in ways that violated the law.
Reporting by Maya Dukmasova
Hundreds of Cook County probationers have been required to wear an electronic alcohol-monitoring bracelet, even in cases unrelated to alcohol.
Reporting by Carlos Ballesteros
and Laura Rodríguez Presa
The population of older undocumented immigrants in Illinois is growing exponentially, but public policy has left these seniors behind.
Reporting by Emily Hoerner
and Rick Tulsky
A review of the Facebook accounts of thousands of law enforcement officers at eight departments found violence rhetoric about Muslims, women, and criminal defendants.
A collaborative journalism project that explored more than two decades of Cook County court data to understand how the system operates.
Reporting by Emily Hoerner
and Jeanne Kuang
An investigation into the slow and opaque parole process for a small group of people incarcerated for crimes from the 1970s.
Reporting by Emily Hoerner
and Jeanne Kuang
More than 160 juvenile offenders in Illinois were serving de facto life sentences in 2019, despite recent court decisions limiting mandatory life sentences for youths.
Reporting by Emily Hoerner and Sam Hart
A project exploring racial disparities at various points in the criminal legal system, including who is stopped by police and who is released on bond.
Reporting by Emily Hoerner
and Zoe Rosenbaum
We investigated the broken system of accountability for judges in Illinois, which often takes years to play out and rarely leads to serious discipline.