News
New class of Cook County associate judges more racially diverse than past years
|
Former prosecutors dominate the roster of 22 new associate judges, who were selected last week by the county’s circuit judges.
The Circuit
Explore nearly two decades of Cook County court data
|
The Circuit, our project with the Better Government Association and DataMade, examines Cook County criminal court data from over 3 million cases between 2000 and 2018. Now you can view the charges in our data broken down by race, gender, and ethnicity.
News
Illinois appellate court denies exonerated man’s innocence certificate
|
While the state vacated Wayne Washington’s 1996 conviction for Marshall Morgan’s murder, he’s still fighting an uphill battle for an innocence certificate.
ACT UP
The history and harm behind Illinois’s criminal HIV transmission law
|
Injustice Watch and the Chicago Reader examined the origins of Illinois’s HIV transmission law, how Cook County prosecutors have leveraged it, and its impacts on people charged. The investigation is part of The Circuit, a courts data project from Injustice Watch, the BGA, and DataMade.
Commentary
3 challenges and opportunities for the new Cook County public defender
|
A fair and equitable justice system depends on the public defenders whose job it is to represent those people who cannot afford a lawyer. Public defense work is civil rights work. It is the public defender who raises questions about interrogation methods, unlawful police stops, and excessive bail. It is also racial justice work. Nowhere is racial injustice more apparent than in the impact our criminal laws have had on people of color, particularly Black people.
Data
Court backlog leaves hundreds of people in Cook County Jail for more than a year
|
Covid-19 restrictions have led to a growing felony court backlog in Cook County. To clear it, “we have to move faster than normal,” one expert said.
The Circuit
Meet the Cook County judge attorneys least want to appear before
|
Judge Diane Gordon Cannon criticized for verbal outbursts, a pro-prosecution bent and jailing of probationers for sometimes-minor infractions.
The Circuit
A veteran Cook County judge has been repeatedly blocked from hearing sex offense cases. Here’s why.
|
An unprecedented investigation of court data finds systematic effort to keep Judge James Linn from deciding sex charges after a controversial ruling he made years ago.
Judicial Conduct
Cook County judge resigns, avoiding discipline for alleged sexual harassment
|
Judge Mauricio Araujo resigned after the Illinois Courts Commission found “clear and convincing” evidence that he engaged in a pattern of inappropriate and harassing behavior toward women.
Judicial Elections
Two Cook County judges in ‘judge jail’ want 6 more years on the bench
|
Judges Mauricio Araujo and Jackie Portman-Brown have been removed from their courtrooms as investigations into their conduct are underway.