James Allen is serving three life sentences for murder. No one ever said he killed anyone.
Tag: Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
Posted inNews & Politics
Politics of fear: Are youth really to blame for the carjacking spike?
Cops say masked teens with a thirst for violence and joyrides are terrorizing the city. An examination of arrests reveals a narrative built on shoddy data and anecdotal evidence.
Posted inNews & Politics
On house arrest with Mohawk Johnson
CPD has tried to turn rapper and comedian Mohawk Johnson into a cautionary example to social justice protesters. He has other plans.
Posted inBlogs
That time a Cook County judge ruled on the case of a man he himself put in prison when he was still a prosecutor
In 2006 John Conroy reported an incredible story about how the Jon Burge torture scandal continues to reverberate in the judiciary
Posted inBlogs
Chicago Data Collaborative launches criminal justice data portal
The cooperative connects the dots between data sets about the same person or case buried among various city and county agencies.
Posted inBlogs
U.S. Steel dumped more toxic chromium into Lake Michigan in October, asked state regulators to ‘keep it secret’, and other Chicago news
Also, man freed by Cook County state’s attorney’s office after serving 29 years in jail on two wrongful convictions of arson.
Posted inBlogs
Kim Foxx drafts legislation allowing a second review of fatal police shootings, and other Chicago news
Also, the Chicago Teachers Union is planning a May Day rally.
Posted inNews & Politics
Despite decriminalization, Chicago’s grass gap persists
It took statewide decriminalization to get Chicago cops to stop arresting mostly black Chicagoans for possession of small amounts of weed.
Posted inNews & Politics
Dan Herbert lives to serve and protect cops—even Laquan McDonald’s killer
The Chicago defense attorney sees police officers accused of misconduct as “the ultimate underdog.”
Posted inBlogs
Kim Foxx makes big change days after being sworn in as Cook County state’s attorney, and other Chicago news
Also, a CNBC host and entrepreneur has purchased a majority stake in Bow Truss coffee.
Posted inNews & Politics
No-show cops and dysfunctional courts keep Cook County Jail inmates waiting years for a trial
Chicago police missed more than 11,000 court dates since 2010, causing months or years of unnecessary delays for inmates awaiting trial.
Posted inNews & Politics
Inside the Chicago Police Department’s secret budget
Every year, police take millions of dollars from ordinary Chicagoans and spend it behind closed doors.
Posted inNews & Politics
Charged with murder, but they didn’t kill anyone—police did
A Reader investigation found ten cases since 2011 where police killed a civilian in Chicago and charged an accomplice with the murder.
Posted inNews & Politics
The criminal-justice crusade of Kim Foxx
The candidate’s plan to transform the Cook County state’s attorney’s office starts with lessons from her childhood in Cabrini Green.
Posted inNews & Politics
What the Van Dyke murder trial judge has in common with Laquan McDonald
Vincent Gaughan posed a public danger one morning when he was 28. But the police response was far different from Jason Van Dyke’s.