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21 January 2004 In this e-Newsletter: President's
Column An Examination of Criminal Justice in Cook County In last month’s Council-Appleseed newsletter, Locke Bowman wrote about the importance of an independent federal judiciary, not straitjacketed by Congress or the Attorney General in deciding what sentences are fair and just for particular criminal offenders. This month, I take my turn at the "bully pulpit" Locke and I share to highlight a related initiative of Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice – a comprehensive study of the criminal justice system in Cook County. The last such study was undertaken in 1929 by John H. Wigmore. Seventy-five years and a constitutional revolution later, it is time to take a fresh look at one of the largest criminal justice systems in the world. We know where some of the broken places are – innocent people sitting on death row, DNA testing delayed for years, "witnesses" to crimes held in detention and isolated from lawyers prepared to represent them, prosecutions tainted by police misconduct, the disparate effects of the "war on drugs," etc. Our goal, however, is not to focus on any single facet of the system, but to see how the various parts of it interact with (or distort) one another on a daily basis. The first (planning) phase has been funded by a $25,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust. In this phase, we have identified and interviewed 20 key players in the Cook County criminal justice system, asking each to identify the most pressing issues the system faces and to suggest ways to deal with those issues. We have also issued invitations to key members of the criminal justice community and the public to serve as a Community Advisory Board. The Advisory Board will assist us in focusing the issues, and in designing the interview instruments and questionnaires we will use. When the research phase of the project is over, the Advisory Board will help set priorities for suggested reforms and build community support for implementing those reforms. We have designed a multi-faceted research strategy, which includes a survey of the relevant literature; interviews of randomly selected prosecutors, public defenders, private defense attorneys, and judges (current and former); interviews with prosecutors and defenders in other jurisdictions; interviews with criminal defendants and victims of crime; and questionnaires sent to all current prosecutors, current defenders, and sitting judges. Social scientists will help us analyze the data these standardized interviews and mail surveys produce. We will also review court records and statistics; analyze data relating to caseloads, case processing, and budgets; and examine the results against national standards. The actual work will be carried out by the indefatigable Malcolm Rich, with expert advice and assistance from Tom Geraghty, Director of Northwestern’s Bluhm Clinic; and Jack Heinz, Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation and Professor at the Northwestern University School of Law. We are seeking funding for a research director, a small staff, and social science consultants. We are also seeking volunteers (attorneys, paralegals, and laypeople) to conduct interviews, gather literature, prepare reports, and undertake court watching. The Advisory Board, while still in formation, already includes Prof. Albert Alschuler, Prof. Susan Bandes, Darren Bowden, Hon. Lou Garippo, Michael Howlett, Jr., Patricia Mendoza, Prof. Randolph N. Stone, and Hon. Earl Strayhorn. From Alschuler to Strayhorn, this group is a who’s who in criminal justice in the Chicago area. There is plenty of room for volunteers at every level, and we hope Council members and Appleseed supporters will participate themselves and recruit others to participate too. It’s bound to be fascinating and important work, and a worthy successor to Prof. Wigmore’s 1929 study.
From the Council: The list of judicial candidates running in the March 2004 primary -- If you are familiar with the professional work of one or more of these candidates, we need your input.
Chicago Council of Lawyers
/ Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice |