Two decades ago, the Crawfords lost a member of their family to the carceral system. On a February night in 2004, Oliver Crawford Jr. was in Streamwood, Illinois spending the night at the home of his cousin Shirley, according to court documents. Later that morning he would get ready to
After more than two decades behind bars, Kevin Jackson is going home. "Having now had the opportunity to review the briefs and hold oral argument in this case we are now of the opinion that Mr. Jackson meets the criteria for release," the panel wrote in an expedited
"Free them all. Free them now!" That was the cry heard in front of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office Sept. 30 at a rally to ask outgoing top prosecutor Kim Foxx to "leave the office with a bang" by vacating the
In 2012 then CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent Byron Pitts came to Chicago to explore the peculiar distinction of Chicago as the capital of false confessions. In that report he interviewed seven men, known now as the Englewood Four and the Dixmoor Five who as teens were convicted of rape
All persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials. So reads the first line of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, making it among the most progressive laws in the country
After a circuit court judge vacated the conviction of man who has spent the last 11 years behind bars based upon advice that the state's attorney's office would dismiss the case, the Fraternal Order of Police said that it would push for him to be reindicted
Training a solutions journalism lens on wrongful convictions in Illinois Today I pressed the publish button on the first edition of the Cook County Courtroom Observer, a newsletter that aims to train a solutions journalism lens on the problem of wrongful convictions in Illinois. It’s a project that I’
Supporters for Kevin Jackson quietly left the courtroom after listening to a three-judge appellate panel question oral arguments Tuesday over whether or not to free Kevin Jackson, who has spent more than half of his life in prison for a crime he and one of the victims says he didn&
In a call to action outgoing Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx says the county needs to develop better models for not only reviewing wrongful conviction cases but also preventing them from happening in the first place. "We need to prevent wrongful convictions," Foxx said to
If Marcel Brown insisted on his innocence, he would go to prison. But if he confessed to involvement in a murder he didn't commit, he would be allowed to go home. That's what police and prosecutors told the 18-year-old hungry and sleep deprived teen in September
Chicago activists will continue efforts to lobby Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to vacate more wrongful convictions before she leaves office in December. "What we want them to know is we're not going to stop," said Jasmine Smith, co-chair of the Campaign to
Kim Foxx says Illinois should create a commission to explore its dubious distinction as the state that leads the nation in vacating wrongful convictions. Since becoming the top prosecutor in Cook County in 2017 Foxx's office has vacated 253 convictions resulting in Illinois becoming the state with the