Unequal Treatment
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. After this project, in 2023, Illinois became the first state in the country to completely eliminate cash bail.
Explore the project
Part 1
Cops and Stops
The Chicago Police Department’s stop-and-frisk tactics leave lasting impact on communities of color. The first part of our series on the unequal treatment afforded people of color at critical points in the criminal justice system.
Part 2
Bent on Bail
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.
Part 3
Jail Roulette
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.
Additional Reporting
Can Springfield fix Cook County’s broken bail system?
The effort to change Cook County’s bail system, stymied for years, suddenly has life in Springfield. But can Illinois legislators accomplish statewide reform?
Bail bondsmen’s political muscle working overtime against reform efforts
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.
Home is no castle for some Cook County defendants; it’s jail
More than 2,000 people each day are out of Cook County Jail but awaiting trial under an “electronic ball and chain”: They can’t work, go to school, pick up their children, or even buy groceries without a judicial “okay.”
Cook County Board members hear calls to end cash bail
Bail reform is more than just “the right thing to do,” officials and criminal justice experts argued at a public hearing Thursday—it’s also safe and affordable.
Reforming Cook County bail system may have side benefit: lower cost
Cook County court officials already are seeking more money to provide the services needed to keep fewer people awaiting trial behind bars. But good news from other cities: It ends up costing less, not more, to release more people before trial.
Cook County Sheriff proposes an end to cash bail
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced Monday that he is embracing an end to cash bail. “We’ve got to blow the system up and replace it with a system that is not dependent on wealth,” said Cara Smith, Dart’s chief policy advisor.
Study: If you can’t make bail in Cook County, you’re more likely convicted
Suspects who can’t make bail in Cook County are more likely to end up convicted than those who are able to post bail. That disparity is one more argument being used to challenge the constitutionality of keeping people locked up before conviction just because they can’t afford bail.
Cook County is “leader” in risk-based bond assessment, chief judge says
Amid growing criticism of the bail system, Chief Judge Timothy Evans this week called Cook County a national leader in using risk-assessment data to set bond.
Not locked up, but still coming to court
Does releasing more people before trial—without requiring bail money—make sense? Here’s what the numbers show.
Cook County commissioners to examine bail practices in public hearing
Experts and affected residents will meet with commissioners in November to talk about Cook County’s bail practices.
Lawsuit: Cash bail in Cook County violates rights of poor accused of crimes
A newly filed lawsuit contends that thousands of poor people, especially African Americans, are being illegally locked up before trial in Cook County because they are too poor to be able to post bond.
Project contributors
Reporting by Sam Hart, Emily Hoerner, Adrienne Hurst, and Jeanne Kuang
Web development by Sam Hart
Additional reporting by James Asher, Camille Darko, Adrienne Drell, Larry Green, Adrienne Hurst, Amani A Abou Harb, Olivia Exstrum, Asif Haq, Anna Hazard, Sumayyah Jones, Maya Manilow, Monica Miller, Leonor Ortiz Monasterio, and Hafsa Razi
Editing by Rick Tulsky