Through the first three quarters of 2026, Chicago is on pace for fewer homicides than it recorded in 2025, a year that closed with the city’s fewest recorded killings in 60 years.

A resolution calling for a review is scheduled for a vote Tuesday in the Health and Hospitals Committee of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Advocates, elected officials and faith leaders say a ...

The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice and more than 55 community, faith, policy, and service-providing organizations sent a letter to the Cook County Board of Commissioners calling on them to prot...

The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice and more than 55 community, faith, policy, and service-providing organizations sent a letter to the Cook County Board of Commissioners calling on them to prot...

It has been three years since Illinois made history by implementing the Pretrial Fairness Act and becoming the first state in the country to completely end the use of money bond. Overall, the picture ...

The two-time Republican nominee for governor says he doesn’t object to the law’s effort of keeping people charged with crimes from sitting in jail simply because they can’t afford bail. But he argues ...

Three years ago today, Illinois made history by implementing the Pretrial Fairness Act and becoming the first state in the country to completely eliminate money bail. Since then, there has been a decr...

By rejecting BriefCam, Cook County would hit the pause button on a rapid, insufficiently scrutinized expansion of AI surveillance technology.

In recent years, Cook County Jail has had a dramatic increase in the number of incarcerated people who have lost their lives. The jail experienced its highest mortality rate on record in 2023, with mo...

We are disappointed but unsurprised to see the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board supporting Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s regressive call to repeal the Pretrial Fairness Act’s huma...

In August 2026, when a Cook County judge denied the State’s Attorney’s motion to detain a driver who fatally struck a young lady and instead placed him on electronic monitoring, Illinois Comptroller a...

Charging decisions should never be the sole basis for deciding who is able to return to the community while their case is pending.

Join us for a live event on Tuesday, August 25 to talk about the politics of public space. We'll be discussing who gets to use "public" spaces and what kinds of spaces get built for the public.

In an op-ed published by the Chicago Tribune, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke called to roll back the human rights protections for people subjected to electronic monitoring included ...

Cook County wants to create an oasis inside the infamous jail. But the renovation will do little to address the harm of incarceration itself

A moderated panel and group discussion. Tuesday, August 25th at Pilsen Books, 6:30-8:30 PM.

YouTube video by The Coalition to End Money Bond

There were 37 homicides in the city last month, the lowest total for any such month dating back to at least 1970. That total is down 18% compared to July 2025.

A recent report from the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice says Cook County judges often ordered accused people to be detained while awaiting trial despite, by the court’s own assessments, being a...

O'Neill Burke said the signs are intended to send a message to potential offenders.

Yesterday, on July 23, 2020, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs in the Williams v. Dart class action lawsuit filed in February 2018 by Thedford Garber Law on behalf…

What we know about Martinez Duncan’s death in Cook County Jail

Judges often hold defendants in jail while awaiting trial, even when given a low score for risk of flight or committing new offenses, a court advocacy group says.

Today, the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice is proud to share “Changing Landscapes: Community Court-Watchers’ Observations of the Second Year of Pretrial Fairness Act Implementation,” a new repor...

The Cook County Board of Commissioners Technology Committee soon will consider a proposal from the Sheriff’s Office to obtain AI video surveillance software known as Briefcam for monitoring people in...

A major overhaul to the Illinois justice system could be officially underway.  House Bill 3363 lays the foundation for a brand new agency, the state public defender office.   The goal is to bring more...

Most monitored people follow all the rules and are not a danger to anyone, yet have their freedom severely restricted.

The first part of the FAIR Act takes effect today, July 1, 2026! The start of implementation of the Funded Advocacy & Independent Representation Act marks the first significant reform to Illinois’ pub...

Varianna Parsons was jailed for 170 days while awaiting trial only to be found not guilty. Unfortunately, she is not alone. While the Pretrial Fairness Act ended Illinois’ use of money bond in pretria...

Chicago Appleseed has been following, researching, and reporting on the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) for over a decade. In our new report, 500 Days Later…10 Years Back: An […]

A lawsuit filed by a civic advocacy organizations claims state agencies and law enforcement agencies have kept the public “largely in the dark” about the outcomes of cash bail abolishment under the SA...