Bill would let wrongly arrested clear their names without paying

By Ben Szalinski

01/28/2020

Expungement and sealing fees cause individuals with erroneous criminal records to have a hard time moving forward with their lives.

TAGS: Cook County, crime, criminal justice, decriminalization, expungement, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, JB Pritzker, overcriminalization, records, restore my good name

Leaving child Home Alone could land parents in jail this holiday season

By Ben Szalinski

12/19/2019

Illinois’ restrictive and vague laws could mean arrest for parents who leave their kids at home while they run a quick holiday errand.

TAGS: Chicago, Christmas, Corey Widen, criminal justice reform, Illinois House of Representatives, Illinois Senate, lawmakers, Natasha Felix, overcriminalization, police, Wilmette, Winnetka

Chicago ‘tow-and-sell’ operation flips 50K cars, buries drivers in debt

By Vincent Caruso

01/22/2019

Chicago has seized and sold nearly 50,000 impounded vehicles since 2011, hitching drivers to mounting debts, a recent investigation found. The city’s ticketing laws disproportionately harm low-income residents.

TAGS: Chicago, criminal justice reform, overcriminalization, Rahm Emanuel

Home alone: Unattended 13-year-old? Police can arrest the parents in Illinois

By Vincent Caruso, Jeffrey Schwab

12/19/2018

Illinois’ law mandating a minimum age for leaving children home alone is the most restrictive in the nation. That should change.

TAGS: criminal justice reform, DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services, overcriminalization

These Illinois Halloween laws might scare you

By Austin Berg, Joe Barnas

10/18/2018

Scraping through a few hundred municipal codes in Illinois didn’t turn up any trick-or-treat ordinances allowing for jail time. But fines associated with age limits, curfews, masks and more were aplenty.

TAGS: Belleville, criminal justice reform, Decatur, overcriminalization

State agency investigates Illinois mom for letting 8-year-old walk dog around block

By Vincent Caruso, Jeffrey Schwab

08/23/2018

A Wilmette mother investigated for letting her daughter walk the dog is only the latest target of Illinois’ vague and overreaching child neglect laws.

TAGS: DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services, overcriminalization

Chicago Ald. Ed Burke wants to fine pedestrians up to $500 for ‘distracted walking’

By Vincent Caruso

11/09/2017

The proposal would fine pedestrians $90 for checking their phone at city intersections and $500 for the offense of being distracted.

TAGS: Chicago, Ed Burke, overcriminalization

Sharing a photo of your completed ballot could be a felony in Illinois

By Bryant Jackson-Green

11/07/2016

If you take a photo of your ballot to post on Facebook or Instagram in Illinois, you’re a felon and could get up to three years in prison.

TAGS: election, overcriminalization

Which Illinois county is most likely to lock you up?

By Bryant Jackson-Green

09/23/2016

Research shows Hardin, Macon and Marion Counties lead the state in prison admissions per 10,000 residents.

TAGS: overcriminalization, prison, prison population, sentencing reform

Bill to ban sale of bobcat pelts heads to Illinois Senate

By Amy Korte

04/08/2016

In the midst of the state’s budget, pension and out-migration crises, an Illinois politician has introduced SB 2143 to ban the sale of bobcat pelts, as well as the trapping of these animals.

TAGS: criminal justice reform, overcriminalization