News
Can Springfield fix Cook County’s broken bail system?
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The effort to change Cook County’s bail system, stymied for years, suddenly has life in Springfield. But can Illinois legislators accomplish statewide reform?
News
Bail bondsmen’s political muscle working overtime against reform efforts
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Across the country, efforts to reform bail have run headlong into opposition from the bail bond industry. The bondsmen, it turns out, have considerable political muscle.
News
Jail Roulette: Cook County’s arbitrary bond court system
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A team of 14 Injustice Watch journalists documented 1,398 bond court cases in six different Cook County courthouses this summer, as part of the continuing Injustice Watch investigation into inequalities at different stages of the justice system. Here is their report.
Projects
Change difficult as bail system’s powerful hold continues punishing the poor
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Unequal Treatment
Bent on Bail
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Like a game of jail roulette, money bail punishes defendants based on often arbitrary factors—including the size of their wallets. The cost to both inmates and taxpayers is tremendous.
News
Unequal Treatment: Cops and Stops
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First in a series of reports examining the unequal treatment afforded people of color at critical points in the criminal justice system.
Projects
Cops and Stops
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View the interactive version of our investigation here. Distrust of the criminal justice system in general, and the police in particular, is widespread in minority communities around Chicago. As a task force appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel reported this spring, “Racism and maltreatment at the hands of the police have been consistent complaints from communities of color for decades.” In April, Injustice Watch launched an examination into the unequal treatment afforded people of color at critical points in the criminal justice system. This is the first of those reports.
News
In top cop’s old district, complaints about police abuse
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Between 2008 and 2012, the years that interim Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson commanded the Gresham district, Injustice Watch identified 15 federal lawsuits accusing a group of officers of illegal searches and arrests, at times using unnecessary force.
News
Would-be judge has personal expertise in bankruptcy, unfit housing
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Judicial candidate Alex Kaplan’s past troubles include losing properties at foreclosure sales; declaring bankruptcy; and co-owning a building cited for code violations and tenants engaged in criminal activity.
Judicial Elections: Unmerit Selection
Past blemishes no bar to seeking Cook County judicial seat
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If history is a guide, the principal attributes of the winners in Cook County’s judicial races will not be their qualifications — their legal experience, education, and temperament — but rather the ethnicity of their names, their skin color, gender, campaign financing, and ballot position.