COOK COUNTY: It’s October 6 and that means our judicial voting guide is live! You’ve been patient and we’ve been trying our best to make this the most comprehensive voting guide available.
Click the link below to
#CheckYourJudges
.
Odd that "Project Veritas" spends its time trying to deceive reporters.
Umm, Veritas means truth, people. And good journalists spend their time trying to find truth, to help democracy. Not degrade it.
Like Cook County, Maryland recently adopted a court rule saying that not having money for bail shouldn't mean someone is jailed. But like here, that's exactly what is still happening. Read this important op-ed by
@UMDLaw
students & fight to
#EndMoneyBail
:
BREAKING: An Illinois appeals court upheld a decision to sentence a man to 10 years in prison for stealing $33 worth of underwear from a Family Dollar store.
Cook County Board blocked from laying off Circuit Court employees; cuts would have risked safety, threatened constitutional rights of minors, judge finds.
The reluctant witness testified at a September hearing that Morehead had told his attorney “if he got in the prosecutor’s way, she would get in his way on his case.”
COOK COUNTY: Our judicial election guide for the Nov. 8 general election is here! There are 61 judges running for retention and we’ve spent months researching them all. Use our guide to
#CheckYourJudges
and help us spread the word!
COOK COUNTY: It’s time to
#CheckYourJudges
! Our judicial election guide for the June 28 primary elections is here! Learn about all 75 judicial candidates on your ballot. And help us spread the word!
October 6!
#CheckYourJudges
October 6!
#CheckYourJudges
October 6!
#CheckYourJudges
Our judicial voting guide is slated for an Oct. 6 release.
Sign up for our newsletter to have updated coverage on Cook County judges and be the first to view our guide:
🚨We’ve asked you, our friends and supporters, to help get our judicial election guide inside the Cook County Jail for incarcerated voters.
Today, we were informed that the 1000 judicial voting guides we’ve submitted were rejected and never received.
We’ve partnered with
@SouthSideWeekly
to print a version of our judicial elections guide, and we plan to mail it to 1,000-plus eligible voters at the Cook County Jail.
But this requires time and resources, and we need your help to make it happen.
2015: The
@CDLB
reports "A Cook County Jail policy banning inmates from receiving newspapers violates the First Amendment, a federal judge has ruled."
2020: The Cook County Jail rejects Injustice Watch's 1000 voting guides as newspaper contraband.
BREAKING!
Rodney Reed’s execution is next month, but his attorneys have submitted a new affidavit from a prisoner who says Stacey Stites’s fiance admitted in prison that he had killed Stites because she was having an affair with Reed.
A bill introduced this week would eliminate cash bail in Illinois. It won’t get debated in the General Assembly until at least January, after legislators postponed next week’s veto session due to the spike in Covid-19 cases.
@jasonasenso
reports.
Our latest project co-published with
@BuzzFeedNews
, thousands of troubling posts by current and former law enforcement officers.
"Cops Around The Country Are Posting Racist And Violent Comments On Facebook"
Click here 👇:
Miracle Boyd, 18, an organizer with
@GKMC18
, was punched by a Chicago police officer Friday night at a Black, Indigenous Solidarity protest near the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park.
@chicago_police
have not identified the officer responsible.
Our 2024 Cook County Judicial Primary Election Guide is here! Use our comprehensive, nonpartisan guide to learn more about the 69 candidates running for judge in Cook County.
#CheckYourJudges
23 years.
"The Kansas state attorney general acknowledged on Tuesday that Lamonte McIntyre is innocent of the 1994 double murder for which he was wrongly convicted and spent 23 years behind bars."
Chokeholds are banned.
Body cameras are mandatory.
Cash bail is no more.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed these reforms and many more into law. Read our latest roundup to learn more about this historic criminal justice reform.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is headlining a fundraiser tonight for embattled Cook County Judge Michael Toomin. Juvenile justice advocates say she’s ignoring the needs of youth in the system.
🚨🚨Attention Cook County voters🚨🚨:
Our 2020 Judicial Election Primary Voting Guide is out!
Learn about the candidates vying for judicial seats so you can
#checkyourjudges
before heading to the polls:
We’re excited to announce that
@injusticewatch
&
@chicagotribune
are teaming up to examine critical issues shaping life in Chicagoland. We’ll be working on several reporting and community engagement projects. Learn more here:
“I stayed in the [prison] law library. I read every book I got my hands on, whether it was law work or history,"
"And I would practice and review other lawyers’ writings, then I would write. My biggest hurdle was overcoming the naysayers and the myths.”
Thanks to everyone who used our judicial election guide to
#CheckYourJudges
. Between our online and print guides, we reached over 300,000 people — nearly half of all voters who cast ballots in Tuesday’s election! Below is a short 🧵 about how we did it (w/ lots of gratitude): 1/?
Mayor Lightfoot's 2022 proposed budget includes a $142 million increase in city tax dollars for police, bringing the police budget to $1.9 billion.
Last year, we reported how Chicago’s per capita police spending has skyrocketed over the last four decades.
BREAKING: Illinois Supreme Court reappointed frmr Cook Co. Circuit Judge Michael Gerber even though voters rejected his re-election bid in November and the courts have twice found he made ethical lapses as a prosecutor that led to wrongful convictions.
Over 30 local groups, including the Chicago Teachers' Union, are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker to release youth from Illinois's juvenile prisons "in every possible case" as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Read their open letter here:
NEW: Data shows that Chicago police made 156 traffic stops for every 1 that ended in a gun arrest in 2021. Critics say that the strategy leads to thousands of unnecessary police interactions.
Read the analysis by
@BlockClubCHI
and
@injusticewatch
.
BREAKING: Cook County Judge Mauricio Araujo has resigned, effective Monday. Araujo engaged in a pattern of harassment toward women, the Illinois Courts Commission determined Tuesday after a two-day hearing, and was awaiting discipline.
Cook County Jail has been a top U.S. hotspot for Covid-19. Starting today, staff are being vaccinated, and people detained inside will soon follow.
@kiranamisra
reports.
We’re proud to announce that Grace Asiegbu (
@_uzunma
) is joining our newsroom as a housing reporter. Her first day is Monday, July 26. Please join us in welcoming Grace to the team!
Chicago’s police union and its allies in Springfield are trying to get cops added to the state’s Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission. Police torture survivors say it would undermine the commission, which is the last hope for many who are still in prison.
We're proud to announce that reporter
@TheVoiceofJosh
is joining our team next month. We're excited to deepen our coverage of systemic inequities with Josh’s help. Please join us in giving him a warm welcome, and keep an eye out for his work
@InjusticeWatch
.
1. IW is hiring! We seek two talented reporters to add to our team, one to cover judges and one to cover housing. We're offering competitive salaries and benefits, including paid family leave & flex time. Take a look: & follow this thread for more info!
While Chicago Police Dept funding continues to grow, the city's crime rate and population have dropped dramatically since the early 1990s. So has the rate at which Chicago cops solve murders. Activists want CPD $ spent elsewhere
@ballesteros_312
reports
Many prisons are moving away from in-person visits to video calling -- but there's a catch, starting with an 11 cent fee increase from the cost of phone calls + glitchy video connections.
BIG NEWS: We couldn't be more excited for Alejandra Cancino (
@WriterAlejandra
) and David Jackson (
@poolcar4
) to join the Injustice Watch team as senior reporters. Please help us welcome them!
UPDATE: Charles Thomas was released this morning, on his 24th birthday, from Cook County Jail. Thomas, who was shot by U. Chicago police in 2018, had experienced COVID-19 symptoms in the jail but was denied bond twice before.
Read our original story:
Did you
#CheckYourJudges
?
Our 2020 judicial election voting guide is officially live and offers the latest news on the Cook County judges up for retention.
In 2019, we examined thousands of troubling public Facebook posts by current and former law enforcement officers across the country, including some posts sharing confederate flags and insignias of white supremacist groups.
Read "In Plain View"
READ:
@supernaira
, a member of the
@BlckRising
collective, writes about being a young Black woman on the front lines for racial justice in Chicago, and challenges people not to flatten her identity to the title "activist".
WATCH: “Do you even know my real name?”
In 'The Allegory of the Activist',
@supernaira
challenges us to see the full humanity of those who take the streets, from Assata Shakur to the young Chicagoans like her who organize for racial justice.
Full poem:
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that nine Black Chicagoans, who were held in jail for up to two weeks after paying bond, can pursue a lawsuit against Sheriff Tom Dart for violating their constitutional rights.
WE'RE HIRING!
Injustice Watch is growing! We’ll be hiring several reporters and senior reporters over the coming months. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Apply now:
🚨BREAKING🚨:
Demond Weston is free.
"Weston, who has long said Chicago police officers tortured him into falsely confessing to a murder and attempted murder in 1990, was exonerated Wednesday after 29 years behind bars."
@maricohen95
reports.
Men incarcerated at one of IL's largest prisons have said for decades that the water is brown and smells like sewage. Last week, activists delivered over 62,000 bottles of water to Stateville prison, after the prison’s commissary ran out of it.
Injustice Watch asked dozens of Little Village residents their thoughts on
#AdamToledo
.
To read more reflections from the Chicago neighborhood, read
@ballesteros_312
’s latest:
"Today, Chicago has more sworn officers per capita than New York, Los Angeles and Houston. Salaries and overtime pay for those officers take up almost all of the $1.65 billion earmarked for the police department in the city’s 2020 operating budget..."
Please join us in welcoming
@mdoukmas
to the
@injusticewatch
team! Starting this summer, Maya will lead our coverage of judges and the Cook County court system, and work on projects like
#TheCircuit
and our judicial election guides. Welcome to the IW squad, Maya!
*~*pErSoNaL nEwS tHrEaD*~*
This summer I'll be saying goodbye to my beloved
@Chicago_Reader
to join the team at
@injusticewatch
as a senior reporter. My full time job starting September will be covering judges in the criminal and civil courts!
“I just want to live like everyone else do,”
An Illinois law prevents people with felony convictions from changing their names — in some cases for life. Transgender advocates have been fighting to change the law, but their efforts have hit roadblocks.
Activists say it's time to defund the Cook County Jail and invest the money in uplifting Black and Brown communities. The Cook County Board of Commissioners unanimously agreed to have that discussion Thursday.
After spending nearly eight years in prison, Ieliot Jackson was granted a certificate of innocence for his wrongful conviction. In this video, Jackson details his story and explains why it’s always important to
#CheckYourJudges
.
Directed and Written by
@ResitaCox
.
More than 30 Chicago high schools will pursue alternatives to police next year in what many advocates are calling a "huge win" for the police-free schools movement.
Read
@_KellyGarcia__
's latest for Injustice Watch:
After waiting for 13 years to have a hearing to prove his innocence of a 1984 murder, 71-year-old James Allen’s conviction for the killing of a Hyde Park drug store owner was reversed today.
The hearing took all of 4 minutes.
The latest from
@mdoukmas
.
Cook County Judge Jackie Portman-Brown has lost her bid for retention, according to unofficial results. With fewer than 16,000 ballots remaining to be counted, it is mathematically impossible for Portman-Brown to get enough “yes” votes to keep her seat.
Last week we published our reporting on the Cook County Associates Judges here 👇:
"Blemishes and all, associate judges seek new terms"
This is a thread of additional information.
1: Work with one of Chicago’s most diverse investigative newsrooms this summer
@InjusticeWatch
! We’re accepting applications for a new PAID summer journalism residency. Read this 🧵 for more information about the opportunity and our vision for the program
COOK COUNTY: Our 2020 judicial election guide will be available tomorrow.
Please sign up to be the first to receive it in your inbox.
#CheckYourJudges
🧑⚖️👨⚖️👩⚖️
"This absolutely should not have occurred as our policy specifically allows for mail printed on newsprint to be disseminated to detainees. We are working to determine where the error in judgment took place."
- Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Matthew Wahlberg
BREAKING: More than 40 local prosecutors including Kim Foxx, Wesley Bell, and Marilyn Mosby join the call to overturn Lamar Johnson's 1995 murder conviction.
Chicago's City Council meeting is underway and members will vote on the new city budget. Mayor Lightfoot has made clear she has no plans to
#DefundCPD
.
At the link below,
@delvecchiograce
looks at 4 proposals that would decrease the Chicago Police budget.
Aurora Police Officer David Brian has received at least 74 misconduct complaints since joining the force in 1995. A recent allegation that Brian groped a man during a patdown marks the third sexual misconduct complaint against Brian since 2017.
Q: How well do you know the Cook County judges on the ballot this November?
A: Very well, after you read our Cook County Judicial Voting Guide.
#judgesmatter
Quinn faced a crowded race in the 10th subcircuit. Her historic victory comes at a time "...when transgender rights are being prominently litigated in courthouses across the country..."
"A
@WBEZ
review of Burge-related wrongful-conviction lawsuits found five in which the Lightfoot administration has addressed whether there was a torture pattern during the Burge era. In all five cases, the city has refused to admit it."
“It really is not about the worst offenders. It really is about poverty. It really is about race.” -
@DA_LarryKrasner
@theappeal
covers Phialhiladelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner request to declare the death penalty unconstitutional.
Listen to two youth organizers with GoodKids MadCity (
@GKMC18
)—China Smith and Miracle Boyd—share what activism has taught them, discuss what they strive to do as organizers trying to transform Chicago, and explore the emotional toll their work takes.
Join us Wednesday, September 29 @ 5:30 p.m. CST for a virtual town hall discussion about the monumental criminal justice reform bill passed by the Illinois legislature and signed by
@GovPritzker
earlier this year.
NEW: "Keep the same energy." - Randy Pierre
Pierre, a senior at the Latin School of Chicago, reflects on how Latin School has responded since July, when an Instagram page exposed its allegedly racist culture.
Congratulations to Injustice Watch senior reporter
@mdoukmas
, who was a finalist for
@CJA_Updates
' Dorothy Storck Award, and reporter
@ballesteros_312
, who took home a Sarah Brown Boyden Award for best investigation on Friday.
Attention Cook County voters: we have been covering the judicial primaries. Early voting is already underway; the election is March 20. Here are some of our stories about those running for judge. 1/?
CHICAGO: We're in Ping Tom Park stuffing envelopes with our judicial election guide for voters at the
#CookCountyJail
.
Don’t forget to
#checkyourjudges
at
We partnered with
@SouthSideWeekly
to create print versions of our judicial elections guide.
We paid local artists, including two incarcerated artists with
@ArtsPrison
, to create postcards for a fundraising campaign that paid for the production and delivery of our guides.
About 7 in 10 women in Illinois prisons are mothers.
For Mother’s Day,
@SarahAnneConway
reports on how incarceration separates mothers and their children and a project by local advocacy groups that helped connect them through photos during the pandemic.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has mandated that all city workers be vaccinated by Oct. 15. But neither the mayor’s office, the police department, nor the Chicago Department of Public Health could give Injustice Watch an updated number of vaccinated police officers.
The Chicago Police Department isn’t keeping tabs on how many cops are vaccinated against Covid-19.
That’s a big problem, health experts and city leaders say.
Read the latest from
@ballesteros_312
and
@thevoiceofjosh
As mail-in ballots continue to trickle in, two Cook County judges up from retention this election — Jackie Portman-Brown and John Mahoney — are close to losing their seats.
"...California is the only state offering classes in nearly every prison, taught by educators from nearby colleges, for credits that can transfer and count toward degrees."
@USATODAY
The power of a photo is in its portal effect: its ability to transport you to a different place and time. In a year when in-person visits in prison were suspended, incarcerated mothers depended on photos from loved ones to break through their prison walls.
Eddie Lee Howard is exonerated after 26 years on Mississippi Death Row.
Howard was sentenced to death in 1994 after being wrongfully convicted of murdering an elderly white woman based almost entirely on now-discredited bite mark evidence.
@innocence
NEW from Injustice Watch: Illinois placed a family of Venezuelan asylum-seekers in a Woodlawn apartment building that Chicago officials had months ago taken to housing court over unsafe conditions,
@WriterAlejandra
reports.
NEW: School administrators in Berwyn and Cicero have forced 109 high schoolers to sign "gang contracts” since 2014, often for vague reasons like “watching videos” or “loitering” — and at least one of those contracts was shared with local police.
An EPA complaint alleges that the State of Illinois discriminated against Chicago's southeast Black and Latino communities when a scrapyard was approved without proper community input.
Our former intern
@AdamLMahoney
reports for
@Grist
.