Criminal Courts
Police | Prosecutors | Bail and Pretrial | Cook County Jail | Illinois Prisons | Parole and Clemency
Appeals and Wrongful Convictions
More than 75,000 criminal cases are opened in Cook County each year. We investigate failures in the criminal legal system, from arrest to incarceration to reentry.
Featured Story
A law passed in 2021 empowered prosecutors to revisit excessive sentences, but so far, only two people have been released. Said one: ‘Two years into it, it’s helped two people?’
Latest
Featured Projects
Hundreds of Cook County probationers have been required to wear an electronic alcohol-monitoring bracelet, even in cases unrelated to alcohol. A single judge, Judge Gregory Vazquez, was responsible for more than one-third of the orders.
A collaborative journalism project that explored more than two decades of Cook County court data to understand how the system operates.
More Criminal Courts
What is a special prosecutor and how are they appointed?
Special prosecutors are called in when the local state’s attorney has a conflict of some kind. Here’s how the process works.
‘The wrong side of justice’
Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit has been responsible for dozens of questionable cases, while acting outside of public view and with little oversight.
How the Special Prosecution Unit shattered a small-town civic leader’s life
Special prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence that could have set murder defendant Curtis Lovelace free. The former Adams County prosecutor was acquitted in 2017 for the murder of his wife after spending 21 months in jail, but the misguided prosecution tore through his community and life.
Special prosecutors have strong political ties and practically no public oversight
The agency housing Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit is deeply entangled in state politics and got a legislative ally to write it out of the state’s public records law.
Special prosecutors have protected powerful defendants and derailed justice for crime victims
After 31-year-old mother of three Megan Wells was killed in a 2016 Rock River boat crash by an allegedly drunk boater, special prosecutors dropped most of the charges as part of a plea deal, allowing the defendant, a well-connected pharmacist, to walk free. The lead prosecutor never publicly disclosed a professional connection to the local…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.