News

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  The Center for Criminal Justice begins evaluation of bail reform.

  With support from the National Institute of Justice, the MacArthur Foundation, and Arnold Ventures, the Center is evaluating the implementation and impact of bail reform in Illinois.
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  The Center for Criminal Justice built data dashboards in Colorado.

  In partnership with the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab, the Colorado District Attorney's Association, and the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative, the Center built data dashboards in eight prosecutors' offices in Colorado. The project aims to expand to all 22 offices in the state.

• Sentencing and Recidivism of Those Convicted of Firearm Possession in Illinois

  With support from the Joyce Foundations, Loyola University’s Center for Criminal Justice has completed a report that provides the most comprehensive, detailed analysis of the sentencing of those convicted of firearm possession offenses in Illinois to date. The research provides criminal justice practitioners and policy makers with objective information that can be used to review the current structure, equity and efficacy of existing laws and policies.READ MORE

• Reducing Revocations Challenge

  In partnership with the Cook County Adult Probation Department, Loyola University’s Center for Criminal Justice is excited to announce the release of a report on the local drivers of probation revocations in Cook County and how those drivers can be targeted to reduce them. The report was produced as part of Cook County’s participation in the Reducing Revocations Challenge, a national initiative of Arnold Ventures and the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG) dedicated to transforming probation and reducing mass incarceration. The Challenge aims to increase success on probation through the identification, piloting, and testing of promising strategies grounded in a robust analysis and understanding of why revocations occur.READ MORE

• Statewide Women’s Justice Task Force Announces Plan to Cut Women’s Prison Population by 50%

  The Statewide Women’s Justice Task Force, organized by the Women’s Justice Institute (WJI) with funding from major philanthropic organizations has released a new blueprint for reducing the number of women incarcerated in Illinois prisons by 50%+ and beyond. Supported by Loyola University Chicago’s Center from Criminal Justice, the report offers three decades of data on the history and trends of Illinois’ women’s prison population, as well as the nation’s first “Cutting 50%+ and Beyond Opportunities Matrix” focused exclusively on cutting women’s incarceration by addressing women’s justice involvement before, during, and after prison. READ MORE

• Arrests in Cook County for Illegal Possession of a Firearm

  In partnership with the Joyce Foundation, the Center for Criminal Justice is examining arrests for crimes involving guns, including illegal possession of a firearm, gun discharge, and gun commission (using a gun in the commission of another crime). Using Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) data provided by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and the Illinois State Police, this research brief presents a detailed description of the trends in arrests, and the characteristics of those arrested for non-lethal gun crimes in Cook County. Notably, most people arrested in Cook County for a crime involving a gun between 2009 and 2019 (72%) were arrested for the illegal possession of a gun. While most (87%) of those arrested for illegal possession of a gun had been previously arrested, a substantial portion (46%) had never been previously convicted of a crime, and the vast majority (80%) had never been convicted of a violent crime.READ MORE

• Arrests in Illinois for Illegal Possession of a Firearm

  In partnership with the Joyce Foundation, the Center for Criminal Justice is examining arrests for crimes involving guns, including illegal possession of a firearm, gun discharge, and gun commission (using a gun in the commission of another crime) and more. READ MORE

• COVID-19’s Effect on Chicago’s Crime Trends

  The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every are of society, including the criminal justice system. The coronavirus's rapid spread has required Chicago and Cook County justice agencies to quickly respond to the crisis. On March 24th, Chicago Police directed officers to reduce police stops and issue citations in lieu of low-level misdemeanors arrests. On March 17th, the Cook County Jail began a reassessment of bond for primarily non-violent offenders. With the help of the Medical College of Wisconsin, and in partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Center for Criminal Justice has put together an interactive database tracking the effect of 2019-nCoV Containment Policies on crime trends in Chicago on a weekly basis and Cook County jail population which updates daily. Incident data is pulled from the Chicago Data Portal. Cook County jail data is taken from the Cook County Sheriff's Office.