Illinois Appellate Court upholds harsh sentence to robber stealing underwear from dollar store. But the dissent contends the majority opinion approves the punishment of poverty, homelessness and...

The lawsuit contends guards at two Illinois prisons beat and harassed a transgender female prisoner, and that she has been moved to solitary confinement after filing a complaint.

Injustice Watch's guide to the November 2022 Cook County judicial elections

There are more than 400 circuit court judges in Cook County. Their decisions on the bench touch many aspects of life, from traffic tickets to orders of protection, civil lawsuits to criminal cases,...

Officials said that mailroom staff incorrectly flagged the guides as contraband and sent them back.

In a flurry of new papers seeking to avert Rodney Reed’s execution next month, his attorneys have submitted a new affidavit from a prisoner who says Stacey Stites’s fiance admitted in prison that he...

Proponents say the deadly Covid-19 outbreak in the Cook County jail highlighted the urgent need to reduce the number of people who are incarcerated while awaiting trial.

Miracle Boyd, 18, is an organizer with GoodKids MadCity and a rising Chicago youth leader. An unidentified police officer struck her in the mouth Friday at a Black, Indigenous American rally,...

Injustice Watch's guide to the March 2024 Cook County Judicial Primary Elections

Kansas man Lamonte McIntyre spent 23 years in prison, convicted of a double murder, before that conviction was overturned in 2017 based on evidence of widespread misconduct that led to a wrongful...

David Kidwell joins the team as investigations editor, and Kelly Garcia returns to Injustice Watch as a reporter.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs historic criminal justice reform package into law, reforming almost every area of the justice system — from police accountability to pretrial detention to sentencing.

Judge Michael Toomin and Mayor Lori Lightfoot say his critics are playing politics. Reformers say the lives and futures of Cook County children are at stake.

Injustice Watch's guide to Cook County's 2020 Judicial Primary Elections.

For activists and city leaders calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to cut the police budget, it’s clear that the money could be better spent elsewhere.

Michael Gerber lost his seat as a Cook County circuit court judge last year, defeated in a primary race. But Gerber, whom courts have twice chastised for improper conduct that led to wrongful...

After pedestrian stops dropped in 2016, Chicago police increasingly turned to traffic stops as a strategy for getting guns off the streets.

Judge Mauricio Araujo resigned after the Illinois Courts Commission found "clear and convincing" evidence that he engaged in a pattern of inappropriate and harassing behavior toward women.

Illinois is one of a handful of U.S. states that will prioritize incarcerated people in the next phase of its rollout.

Two bills introduced by Republicans in the state legislature are "a smack in the face," says one torture survivor.

For activists and city leaders calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to cut the police budget, it’s clear that the money could be better spent elsewhere.

In a first-of-its-kind project, The Circuit collected and cleaned millions of records from the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County’s mainframe computer system. This is a detailed breakdown of...

The judicial retention races gained much higher interest, and a Cook County judge lost his seat for the first time since 1990, But there also was evidence that voters, when in doubt, favor an Irish...

The two award-winning veteran journalists are joining Injustice Watch as senior reporters.

Charles Thomas has been denied bond twice since mid-March, even as judges and prosecutors have said publicly that they are doing everything they can to release people from the jail.

Injustice Watch then spent months reviewing the Facebook posts by police and exploring the larger questions about how departments regulate social media by officers.

Chicago activist Naira reflects on the summer uprisings and pushes back on the dehumanization of Black radicals and protesters.

Cook County became the first Illinois county to bar detention of pre-teenagers when it unanimously passed the resolution on Wednesday. Juvenile Justice experts said it is only the latest of measures...

The Cook County Sheriff's policy to reject some people who had been ordered released on electronic monitoring may have violated the Fourth Amendment, an appellate court ruled.

Dubious distinction: In one of the largest studies of traffic stops ever, researchers at the University of North Carolina found several Cook County departments have among the worst ratios of search...

Despite a special prosecutor’s finding that Demond Weston’s torture claims were “unsubstantiated,” a judge agreed with the prosecutor’s motion to vacate his conviction for two 1990 shootings.

Men inside Stateville prison say the water is discolored and murky and smells like sewage. Prison officials say it is safe to drink.

With shootings and murders on the rise and President Trump sending federal agents to the city, community organizers and criminologists point to a police hiring spree from just four years ago to show...

Advocates say the waiting periods and bans in the state's name-change law disproportionately affect trans people.

After hundreds protested outside the jail Thursday morning, the Cook County Board of Commissioners advanced a non-binding resolution to shift funds from policing and incarceration to public services.

Maira Khwaja, one of the community representatives on Hyde Park Academy’s council, said the vote to remove one of the police officers at her school represented “a huge win for the movement to remove...

About a dozen community groups filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to ensure that federal agents don't violate protesters' constitutional rights.

With nearly all the votes counted, Judge Jackie Portman-Brown did not get enough “yes” votes to stay on the bench as of Tuesday. Another judge is holding on to his seat by 282 votes.

CHICAGO—Clicking rapidly through links scattered across the darkest corners of the Water Reclamation District website, Chicago resident Daniel Harris told reporters Tuesday he was sucked down an...

More than 40 local prosecutors across the country  filed a legal brief Thursday supporting the City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s effort to overturn the murder conviction of a local man her office...

We likely won’t see the 75% cut that organizers have asked for, but there are some proposals on the table.

Officer David Brian has been suspended twice since 2018 for sustained complaints of sexual harassment.

Cook County's 10th judicial subcircuit, in parts of northwest Chicago and nearby suburbs, has a crowded field. But one of the candidates is making history as the first openly transgender judicial...

Two youth organizers with GoodKids MadCity share what activism has taught them, how it has affected them, and how they want to transform Chicago.

A discussion with Illinois legislators and public officials will provide insight into recently enacted criminal justice reform.

In this first-person piece, Latin School of Chicago senior Randy Pierre shares his experiences with racism at the top private school — and reflects on how Latin School has responded since July, when...

A photo project helped keep incarcerated mothers and their children connected during the pandemic-related prison lockdowns.

No one in Mayor Lori Lightfoot's office or the police department seems able to put a number on it. That's a problem.

No one in Mayor Lori Lightfoot's office or the police department seems able to put a number on it. That's a problem.

With nearly all the votes counted, Judge Jackie Portman-Brown did not get enough “yes” votes to stay on the bench as of Tuesday. Another judge is holding on to his seat by 282 votes.

A photo project helped keep incarcerated mothers and their children connected during the pandemic-related prison lockdowns.

Illinois officials placed a family of recent arrivals from Venezuela in a Woodlawn apartment building city officials took to court over unsafe conditions amid a monthslong feud between tenants and...

More than 100 students in seven years have signed “gang contracts” for a suspected gang affiliation.

An EPA complaint alleges that the state discriminated against the Latino and Black communities in southeast Chicago when it approved new permits allowing the scrapyard to move into the community...