| Unofficial results of the 2010 Primary Election |
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For the unofficial results of the 2010 Primary Election, click here
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| Chicago Council of Lawyers Releases Judicial Evaluation Results for the February Primary Election |
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The next judicial election is February 2, 2010 and early voting begins January 11, 2010. In this election, voters in Cook County will fill three Appellate Court vacancies, eight countywide vacancies, and fourteen vacancies in the judicial subcircuits. Once again, the Chicago Council of Lawyers has prepared a report on the judicial candidates, including judicial ratings and the reasons for those ratings. It is our responsibility to vote for judges we can trust to make impartial decisions based on fair consideration of the facts and law. In some cases, this means that judges may make unpopular or controversial decisions. We need to trust that our judges can make those right decisions without regard to political or economic pressure. That’s why it is so important to vote for qualified people to be judges. For a ballot summary prepared by the Committee to Elect Qualified Judges, using the judicial evaluations of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, please click here. For a report detailing the findings of the Chicago Council of Lawyers on each judicial candidate, please click here.
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| Program News and Next Steps |
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Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers work collaboratively on a variety of issues, often with Chicago Appleseed taking the lead on focused research, followed by advocacy that is done by both organizations. Criminal Justice ProjectWith the generous assistance of the Chicago Community Trust, we are continuing to implement the recommendations detailed in Chicago Appleseed's comprehensive examination of Chicago's felony trial courtrooms. For example, we've:
We are now working with the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Office of the Cook County Public Defender, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, the Cook County Adult Probation Department, and the Office of the Cook County Sheriff to implement our comprehensive proposal to establish a division of the Circuit Court dedicated to diverting non-violent offenders into special programming and out of the criminal justice system. Immigration Court ReformChicago Appleseed with national Appleseed and its pro bono partners, Latham & Watkins LLC and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP released a comprehensive report on the immigration courts, Assembly Line Injustice. We have begun negotiations with national officials concerning the report's 34 recommendations. The Chicago Council of Lawyers will be working with Chicago Appleseed on advocating for the implementation of these recommendations. As part of the advocacy efforts, Chicago Appleseed and Chicago Council of Lawyers co-sponsored a public forum on immigration court reform on October 29, 2009 at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Judicial Election ReformWith the generous financial assistance of the Joyce Foundation, we are about to launch the Judicial Performance Commission Pilot Project. The Commission will assess the qualifications of judges seeking retention in the November 2010 election, utilizing a commission comprised of lawyer and non-lawyer community leaders and a comprehensive judicial evaluation process that includes both mail surveys and personal interviews. |
| Is Illinois Ready for a Judicial Performance Commission? |
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Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers sponsored the public forum, “Is Illinois Ready for a Judicial Performance Commission?” on April 20. Partners included the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform and the League of Women Voters of Illinois. Jane B. Howell, Executive Director, Colorado Commissions on Judicial Performance, was the keynote speaker, followed by David Orr, Cook County Clerk. Speakers Dr. Laurie Bergner, League of Women Voters of Illinois; Cynthia Canary, Illinois Campaign for Political Reform; Illinois State Representative Elizabeth Coulson; Michelle Jordan, League of Women Voters of Illinois; Edward Malone, Chicago Council of Lawyers; Malcolm C. Rich, Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers; and Illinois State Representative Kathleen A. Ryg discussed the possibility and potential for a judicial performance commission in Illinois.
For a Powerpoint presentation
provided by Jane B. Howell, Executive Director,
For a voter education packet (November 2008 judicial retention elections) from David Orr, Cook County Clerk, CLICK HERE.
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Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago
Council of Lawyers have joined CHANGE
For more
information, please visit
www.changeil.org. |
| Policy Statements |
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A Call for Reform in Central Bond Court It was reported in the September 2, 2008 edition of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin that U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall ordered Sheriff Tom Dart to determine the eligibility of defendants for electronic monitoring while on home detention. Dart’s attorney replied that the sheriff does not have the necessary information to make that eligibility decision. This conflict is part of a long-running class action lawsuit over jail overcrowding, but the consequences go beyond the simple calculation of whether there are enough beds at Cook County Jail. A court’s determination of whether to conditionally release or incarcerate a criminal defendant until trial or other disposition of the case is an immensely important part of the criminal justice process. Incarcerated defendants have limited opportunity to work and communicate with attorneys, investigators, and witnesses, thereby impairing their ability to prepare a defense. Numerous studies have shown that defendants who remain in secure detention are at a significant disadvantage relative to those who are released pending trial. All of this comes at a staggering cost to the taxpayer – the defendants and their employers lose earnings, families lose support, and the more direct costs of the incarceration itself are reported by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department to be more than $100 per day per inmate. In May 2006, in response to the growing problems with bond court and their consequences, a public forum co-sponsored by the Chicago Council of Lawyers and the Cook County Bar Association was convened. All of the stakeholders aired their positions and a tentative agreement was reached to address some of the most pressing problems. Those changes were never instituted. Subsequently, a lawsuit was filed in federal court on behalf of the MacArthur Justice Center challenging the use of televised hearings. That lawsuit remains unresolved. In February 2007, the Council and the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice called for an immediate end of video bond hearings. We believe that comprehensive, in-person hearings are necessary, with information presented so the judge can make an informed decision. In December 2007, Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice, working with the Chicago Council of Lawyers, published “A Report on Chicago’s Felony Courts.” This comprehensive report shed light on a criminal justice system which has become our defacto mental health and drug treatment system. The report included 50 specific recommendations for change, with suggestions for reallocation of resources, caseload and workload restructuring, facility improvements, and better use of diversion programs. Among the most important of these recommendations are three that have a direct bearing on Bond Court:
In March, 2008, Chicago Appleseed, in cooperation with Chicago-Kent College of Law and Charles Loeffler of Harvard University, began a court watching program focusing on Central Bond Court. The data gathered to date confirms the conclusion that the current Central Bond Court system is devastating to an accused: the defendant is saddled with a thirty second hearing where no effort is made to put forth evidence on his behalf. Since the release of the report on the felony courts, Chicago Appleseed and the Council have been in discussions with the Circuit Court of Cook County, calling for the use of a courtroom on the first floor of 26th Street for bond hearings, eliminating the need for videoconferencing. We have called for the reinstatement of a fully functional pre-trial services department to inform the court of relevant facts. We have recommended during these discussions that the probation department work with trained and supervised volunteer students and lawyers to gather the necessary background information in time for bond hearings. We have prepared a formal program proposal and we are ready to act. More recently we have been part of discussions with the Criminal Division of the Circuit Court in determining whether Central Bond Court coupled with an effective pre-trial services program can be used to help bring together non-violent drug offenders under the age of 22 for special diversion programs, including the vocational and educational opportunities they need to survive. It is time to start coordinating efforts to improve our criminal justice system. We call upon the major stakeholders to work together to create a coordinated private/public partnership to put needed reforms into place.
Daniel T. Coyne
Mary E. Anderson
Malcolm C. Rich
Changing the Way Police Officers are Disciplined in Chicago Balancing the Cook County Budget Without Sacrificing Justice To view the statement, click here The Council recommends changes in the way bond hearings are conducted in Cook County. For a copy of the editorial, click here |
| e-Newsletter: July 2008 |
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In this e-Newsletter:
Click here to view |
