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    Unequal Treatment

    News

    Can Springfield fix Cook County’s broken bail system?

    By Adrienne Hurst | February 23, 2017

    The effort to change Cook County’s bail system, stymied for years, suddenly has life in Springfield. But can Illinois legislators accomplish statewide reform?

    Supreme court building
    News

    Bail bondsmen’s political muscle working overtime against reform efforts

    By James Asher | December 13, 2016

    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

    By Injustice Watch Staff | November 29, 2016

    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.

    Electronic monitoring equipment
    News

    Home is no castle for some Cook County defendants; it’s jail

    By Larry Green | November 18, 2016

    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.”

    News

    Cook County Board members hear calls to end cash bail

    By Camille Darko | November 17, 2016

    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.

    Jail Division 11
    News

    Reforming Cook County bail system may have side benefit: lower cost

    By Adrienne Hurst and Camille Darko | November 16, 2016

    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.

    Tom Dart
    News

    Cook County Sheriff proposes an end to cash bail

    By Emily Hoerner and Jeanne Kuang | November 15, 2016

    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.

    News

    Study: If you can’t make bail in Cook County, you’re more likely convicted

    By Jeanne Kuang | November 2, 2016

    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.

    News

    Cook County is “leader” in risk-based bond assessment, chief judge says

    By Injustice Watch Staff | October 28, 2016

    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.

    News

    Not locked up, but still coming to court

    By Adrienne Hurst and Camille Darko | October 25, 2016

    Does releasing more people before trial—without requiring bail money—make sense? Here’s what the numbers show.

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    Injustice Watch is a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism organization that conducts in-depth research exposing institutional failures that obstruct justice and equality.

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