Insights & Information

Illinios state law has banned the practice of shackling pregnant, laboring women since 1999. This week, a federal judge approved a $4.1 million settlement to approximately 80 plaintiffs claiming that they were shackled during labor, according to an article by Colleen Mastony posted on ChicagoTribune.com. The Cook County Sheriff's Office, which operates the jail, denies the claims, and attributes its agreement to settle to the prevention of further costs of a lawsuit to taxpayers. Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM) senior policy director, Gail Smith, said, "We're very pleased the Sheriff Dart has implemented stronger protections for pregnant women. We look forward to a day that women throughout Illiois will have similar protections." Earlier this year, the use of shackles on pregnant detainees was banned in Cook County, when the Governor signed a new law. 

A new report published by Project NIA and authored by Mariame Kaba and Frank Edwards, “Policing Chicago Public Schools: A Gateway to the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” uses data from the Chicago Police Department to demonstrate the type of offenses and the demographics of the juveniles arrested on Chicago Public Schools' (CPS) property in 2010. The authors aim to inform the public about the scope and extent of policing in CPS, hoping to galvanize educators, parents, students, policymakers, and community members to advocate a decrease in reliance on law enforcement to address school discipline issues in favor of an increased use of restorative justice. Major findings include that African-American youth accounted for 74 percent of juvenile school-based arrests in 2010 but made up only 45 percent percent of the CPS population (2009), suggesting that they are disproportionately arrested. For media coverage of the report and its findings, click here.

The Council of Advisors to Reduce Recidivism through Employment (CARRE), formed by Safer Foundation, provides opportunities for stakeholders to implement strategies that will reduce barriers to employment and encourage successful reentry for formerly incarcerated individuals. Save the date for CARRE's tenth annual policy conference:

Monday, October 24, 2011
10:00AM - 1:30PM

University of Illinois at Chicago, Student Center East
750 S. Halsted Ave
Chicago, IL 60607

For more info, contact Anthony Lowery
(312) 454-3379
anthony.lowery@saferfoundation.org

The Metropolitan Chicago Synod Antiracism Team, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, and Lutheran Advocacy – Illinois have partnered to host a conversation they are calling “The New Jim Crow: A Faithful Conversation on Race and Criminal Justice.” The discussion will include the legacies of colonialism, slavery, and racism and their impact on today’s policies and practices, along with how the age of colorblindness is leading to mass incarceration of people of color.

September 18, 2011
3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
1100 East 55th Street
Chicago, Illinois

For more info, click here.
To register, click here.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez opened her office’s fourth community justice center, this one at the University of Illinois at Chicago. At each center, several prosecutors handle felony and misdemeanor cases and mortgage fraud cases. Alvarez has said the centers can improve communication between citizens and law enforcement and provide victims with more seamless prosecutorial relations throughout the process. Other community justice centers are on North Western and on West Maxwell in Chicago and in Oak Park. For more on this story by Frank Main, click here.

Join State Representative La Shawn Ford (D-8th District) for a public discussion on the important issue of conceal and carry of handguns.

Town Hall Meeting on Conceal and Carry of Handguns
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
4630 W. Augusta
Chicago, Illinois
For more info, click here.
To RSVP, call (773) 378-5902

At a rally in downtown Chicago on June 17, Cook Country Board President Toni Preckwinkle called the country’s war on drugs a failure and “…devastated lives, families and communities. For too long we’ve treated drug use as a criminal justice issue, rather than a public issue, which is what it is.” To read the full article in the Chicago Tribune by Hal Dardick, click here.

A new report released this week by the White House reveals that across 10 U.S. cities/counties, more than half of adult males arrested for crimes ranging from misdemeanors to felonies tested positive for at least one drug, including 83% of men arrested in Chicago—the highest rate among the sites studied. For more details, click here or here.

Chicago city council officials formally declared on June 6 that former Newark head of police, Garry McCarthy, would take over the Chicago Police Department superintendent position. McCarthy advised the council's public safety committee of his plans for the Chicago community, one component of which is to to reallocate 500 police officers into several neighborhoods to combat summer crime. To read the article by Evelyn Holmes, click here.

Garry McCarthy, Chicago’s acting Police Superintendent, is laying out his plans to improve the city’s police department. His ideas include increasing and improving partnerships between communities and police and establishing a donor-funded foundation to help the department pay for a range of needs. While the city has seen major crime rates drop over the past couple years, McCarthy notes the importance of residents’ perception of crime. Thus, one of his top priorities will be making communities feel safe. For more on this story from the Chicago Tribune, click here.