State Identification & the Reentry Process
by Sam Steiber, MSW, LSW When Eva suggested I write about the reentry process here in Illinois, I sifted through articles, academic papers, and studies. I found countless statistics[1], factoids[2], and laws[3], all of which support the argument that the reentry process here in Illinois – and the country – is needlessly complicated for most, ...
BREAKING: Patrick Prince, Exonerated!
Exoneration Project clinic students Michaela Kabat and Regina Wood with Attorney & Lecturer David Owens. [UPDATED STORY: On May 16, 2017, prosecutors declined to retry Patrick Prince and formally dismissed the charges against him. He will be freed after 26 years of wrongful conviction. He is 46 years old. Patrick is the 25th Exoneration ...
The Story of Illinois C-Numbers
By Attorney Josh Tepfer On February 1, 1978, Illinois made one of its most significant changes to its criminal justice scheme. As of that date, all sentences imposed upon individuals convicted of criminal offenses were made determinate – that is, individuals were sentenced to a specific number of years or days, and, generally speaking [1], the ...
Penalizing Poverty
Attorney Karl Leonard Being charged with a crime in Cook County is an expensive proposition. A person charged with a crime—all of whom are presumed innocent—often must come up with enormous sums of money in order to be released on bond prior to trial. If they are unable to do so, they will be kept ...