Criminal Justice
16 years after alleged extortion, Chicago police sergeant is finally off the force
City investigators tied Sgt. Alvin Jones to corrupt cops, but his dismissal case got buried in red tape. Now he has quit.
The 16-year-old boy shot dead in Millennium Park had big plans for his family and for his music ‘if I make it to 21.’
“He said there are a lot of things that happen in Chicago, you see so many kids lose their lives at early ages … He couldn’t even make it to 17,” the boy’s mentor said.
Buffalo shooter is just the latest white domestic terrorist
The 18-year-old white gunman was motivated by the “replacement theory” — the idea that people of color will replace white people in the U.S.
A man allegedly threatened Mayor Lori Lightfoot and State’s Attorney Kim Foxx over crime
The man allegedly said he was incensed by news coverage of violence in his neighborhood, worried it was “too close to home.”
Elected judges are rarely voted out of office. Here’s why.
In Cook County, elected judges are seldom voted out of office — even when they have controversial records.
Episode 6: The Prison Sweepstakes
In the 1980s Illinois leaders held a competition, where rural towns competed to “win” prisons and the jobs that come with them.
A new University of Chicago academy seeks to build better police leaders
The well-funded initiative aims to reduce crime and reform departments by improving police supervision.
Fewer people were shot and killed in the city this year — but summer looms
The mayor and other city officials have attributed this year’s downtick in violence to an initiative that has flooded 15 communities with new resources. Crime experts say that’s premature.
Public defenders are now handling deportation cases in Cook County
Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill in August 2021 that allows Cook County staff attorneys to represent undocumented immigrants in federal court.