General

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic increase in the use of video conferencing for court hearings in Illinois. Initially introduced as an essential safety measure, virtual hearings have become [...]

Throughout Illinois’ 2022 legislative session, the Pretrial Fairness Act came under attacks fueled by outright lies and misinformation. Conservatives repeatedly cited the law—which has yet to [...]

In January 2022, the Pretrial Fairness Act expanded the rights of people incarcerated in their homes on electronic monitoring to reduce the harm they experience  under this alternative form [...]

Last month, Governor Pritzker signed the Pretrial Services Act (725 ILCS 185), which requires the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts to establish pretrial services in counties where [...]

More than 150 faith leaders from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and other communities across Illinois have signed an open letter calling on state legislators to defend pretrial justice reforms and [...]

Last year, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Pretrial Fairness Act, ending money bail across Illinois.   Unsurprisingly, law enforcement decried the new law. Perhaps the most [...]

When the Pretrial Fairness Act goes into effect in 2023, it will improve community safety, reduce pretrial jailing and end wealth-based incarceration but only if Illinois’ courts properly [...]

One year ago today, the Illinois legislature voted in support of the Pretrial Fairness Act, a key component of the criminal justice package bill known as the SAFE-T Act. This historic legislation [...]

Yesterday, Mayor Lightfoot held a press conference about gun violence in Chicago and again called for people to be jailed pretrial based solely on the accusations they face in court. This harmful [...]

Last summer, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Black Lives Matter protesters in Winnebago County who found themselves jailed for three days without bond hearings after being arrested at a [...]