Gov. J. B. Pritzker signed a criminal justice bill Monday that is massive both in its size – 764 pages – and scope. We discuss the the coming changes and what concerns the bill raises for opponents.
police accountability
Feb 22, 2021 |
The Chicago City Council is poised to pay a Chicago family $175,000 after officers mistakenly raided their apartment in March 2017 while looking for their neighbor.
Feb 22, 2021 |
The massive, 764-page criminal justice reform bill will eliminate cash bail, require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras and create a certification program for police. “This legislation marks a substantial step towards dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.
Feb 21, 2021 |
The author of a scathing report from the city’s Office of Inspector General says the senior leadership of the Chicago Police Department failed both their front-line officers and the public during the unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
Feb 19, 2021 |
More than 100 convictions tied to former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his team have been thrown out in recent years. “Today, we were able to bring some justice to nine people who were targeted and victimized by former Sergeant Watts,” Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said in a statement.
Feb 18, 2021 |
The Chicago Police Department was “under-prepared and ill-equipped, and thus critically disserved both its own front-line members and members of the public,” according to the inspector general’s report, the first in-depth examination of the police department’s response to the unrest.
Feb 14, 2021 |
A new archive detailing the experiences of police torture survivors went online this month. We hear from two people who are helping those survivors heal.
Feb 3, 2021 |
The Invisible Institute, a journalism nonprofit based on the city’s South Side, has published an online archive documenting former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge’s "violence against more than 100 Black men, from the 1970s to the 1990s.”
Feb 1, 2021 |
A federal judge ruled that disciplinary action against attorney Keenan Saulter was unnecessary because the Chicago lawyer acknowledged he violated the court order — but had a “good faith basis” to believe that the video was being improperly withheld from the public by city officials.
Jan 28, 2021 |
The update announced Wednesday comes as Officer Rusten Sheskey, who shot Jacob Blake seven times on Aug. 23 in Kenosha, remains on administrative leave while a police review board examines the case.
Jan 25, 2021 |
Illinois is poised to become one of the first states to eliminate cash bail after the state legislature passed a sweeping criminal justice reform bill earlier this month. Now proponents who pushed for that change hope the measure can be used to reform pretrial services elsewhere.
Jan 25, 2021 |
Aldermen agreed Monday to settle a lawsuit brought by a Chicago man who was shot by police during a traffic stop in February 2015 that officials ruled was unjustified by paying him $525,000 and forgiving approximately $45,000 in debt he owes to the city.
Jan 20, 2021 |
Inspector General Joseph Ferguson announced Wednesday that his probe of the botched raid in February 2019 that left Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked and pleading for help would focus on “possible misconduct” by city officials.
Jan 19, 2021 |
A Chicago police lieutenant is suing the city, claiming a new safety team designed to address neighborhood concerns and improve community relationships has instead focused on making baseless traffic stops in order to meet illegal self-imposed quotas.
Jan 19, 2021 |
The city of Chicago will pay $115,000 to two Chicago men who alleged they were subjected to excessive force during the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in late May, marking the first of what could be a costly wave of lawsuit settlements.
Jan 15, 2021 |
Officers who lounged, slept and snacked in the burglarized South Side office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in the early morning hours of June 1 as unrest swept the South and West sides of the city have been disciplined, the Chicago Police Department announced Thursday.
