02/04/2026
👉 We’ve been busy and so have you—so here’s a roundup of some news you may have missed so far this year. Links in our bio!
✍️ Professor Claire Johnson Raba wrote a letter to explaining that — like so many other things — civil asset forfeiture harms communities of color the most. “Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts found…that 47% of people observed in proceedings for civil asset forfeiture cases were Black and 36% were Hispanic or Latino.” (Slides 1-2)
✍️ Our senior attorney, Elizabeth Monkus, spoke with about the lack of transparency in the Illinois courts: “These are our courts. This is a branch of our government…[that] should not be permitted, particularly in this day and age, to operate in secrecy.” (Slides 3-5)
✍️ “Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has instructed her office to resume sending some people with gun possession charges to the county’s Restorative Justice Community Courts (RJCC),” reversing course on last year’s policy shift. Details from and . (Slides 6-10)
✍️ Cook County’s Chief Judge has changed some rules around pretrial electronic monitoring. “Chicago Appleseed…said the new procedures would likely increase the number of people incarcerated for alleged violations, but…expressed encouragement that the matters would still be assessed by a judge.” Reported on by . (Slides 11-12)
✍️ Six years after its passage, the explored the implications of the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (CRTA) for reparations, market diversity, and expungements. (Slides 13-14)
✍️ reported on the transparency and accountability concerns connected to a CPD officer, “named in multiple excessive‑force complaints,” who is facing another discipline case that will be “heard by an independent arbitrator instead of the Chicago Police Board, a procedural move that changes both the venue and the rules.” (Slides 15-17)
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