Home > Academics > Clinical programs > Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic > Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project > Useful websites
Useful websites
Law enforcement/criminal justice
Police accountability
Racial profiling
Race/poverty
Legal services
Government organizations
Contacting elected officials
Courts
Law enforcement/criminal
justice
Chicago police department: http://www.chicagopolice.org/
From this main page the entire CPD website can be
accessed. Of particular interest to the PAP is the section on CAPS (Chicago
Alternative Policing Strategy) which explains the CPD's organization (and has a
nice click-able map of Chicago's districts and beats at http://www.ci.chi.il.us/communitypolicing/AboutCPD /Districts/MapAll.html). In addition, the page contains links to Chicago crime
statistics (by district and citywide), and a glossary of police
terminology.
Cook county state's attorney's office: www.statesattorney.org
Illinois criminal law and procedure: http://www1.law.com/il/lawguide/criminal.shtml
Law.com's list of helpful links about Illinois Criminal
Law and Procedure. Included are links to the Illinois Criminal Code, the
Illinois Code of Criminal Procedure, the United States Code, and the web sites
of various private and governmental organizations about criminal law and law
enforcement.
U.S. department of justice bureau of justice
statistics: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
This site contains basic criminal justice and law
enforcement statistics, both for states and the federal government, and has
links to other statistical sources.
University of Illinois-Chicago department of
criminal justice: http://www.uic.edu/depts/cjus/
In addition to basic information about the school's
Criminal Justice department, this site has a good list of links to other sites
about criminal justice in Chicago (at http://www.uic.edu/depts/cjus/resources.html). The site also has a link to the UIC's Institute for Public
Safety Partnerships (at http://www.crj.uic.edu/) which has information and press releases on local community
policing efforts.
Building blocks for youth references: http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/references.htm
This site is a list of references on various topics
involving minority youth and the criminal justice system, with a focus on
disparate sentencing and poor prison conditions for juveniles, as well as some
references on prevention and rehabilitation programs.
Police executive research forum: www.policeforum.org
The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) is a
national membership organization of progressive police executives that seeks to
improve policing through research and involvement in public policy debate.
PERF's primary sources of operating revenues are government grants and
contracts, as well as private organizations. This site provides comprehensive
information about PERF's research projects. These projects include the
development of guidelines for the analysis and interpretation of
vehicle/pedestrian stop data collected by agencies in the context of the
national discussion on racial profiling. PERF has also developed a number of
Publications on Community Policing and the Future of Police. These publications
are intended to pose challenges regarding the role, function and methods of
agencies in the context of community policing. PERF is also involved with
Strengthening Relations Between Police and Minority Communities. The aim of this
project is to develop methods for balancing crime control strategies with
proactive interactions with citizens.
Vera institute of justice: http://www.vera.org
The Vera Institute researches, raises money, and works
with governmental entities to institute various reforms. It focuses its action
in New York City, where the foundation is located. Currently the Vera Institute
is working on promoting police accountability both in New York City and the
state of New York. The website includes resources about all of their projects,
one of which focuses on police accountability. Included on the site is its
report on strengthening police accountability in the Bronx (at http://www.vera.org/Publications/bronx?precinct.html) and an extensive bibliography (about 500 sources, some
annotated) on policing (at http://www.vera.org/wholebiblio.html).
Police accountability
ACLU of northern california: http://www.aclunc.org/
The main page for the ACLU of Northern California,
containing news releases and links to the rest of their site.
ACLU and police practices: http://www.aclu.org/issues/policepractices/hmpolice.html
This page contains recent news postings of news stories
involving police practices, an update of federal legislative actions on police
practices (as well as background information on federal activity) has links to
other related ACLU sites (such as the one on racial profiling below), and has a
list of links to police practices websites by other organizations.
ACLU of northern california - police practices:
http://www.aclunc.org/police/index.html
This page summarizes the ACLU-NC's recent activities
involving the police, including news briefs and press releases, and archives on
activities in past years. Of particular interest to the PAP is the ACLU's
community action manual on fighting police abuses (at http://www.aclunc.org/police/am-frame.html), and John Crew's essay on community policing vs. policing the
community (at http://www.cahro.org/html/policingthecomm.html).
Chicago police red squad - FBI-CIA-MI lawsuit
(first amendment and police activities): http://www.concentric.net/~Gutmanpc/
This website contains background and court materials on
an ongoing class-action lawsuit Alliance to End Repression, et al. vs. City
of Chicago, et al., (originally filed in 1974) whose consent decree the
Seventh Circuit recently modified (a link to that opinion is found here on the
website). The case involves the Chicago Police Subversive Activities Unit which
at trial was found to be in violation of the First Amendment for its monitoring
and disruption of political organizations. The site provides an excellent
background on the case, a time line of developments in the litigation,
information on the consent decree, and copies of various court opinions handed
down in the course of trial.
Citizens alert: http://www.citizensalert.org/
Citizens Alert is Chicago's oldest community
organization focused on police accountability.
Citizens for police review - Knoxville, TN:
http://www.korrnet.org/cpr/
Citizens of Knoxville formed the CPR in response to
several 1997-1998 deaths resulting from inappropriate Knoxville police actions.
The website explains their organization, and has some basic explanatory pages
for the public on citizen's rights regarding the police, Miranda warnings, and
handling incidents of police brutality. CPR has on-line forms that users can
submit to help CPR collect information on police abuse in Knoxville. The site
also includes a statistical summary of the complaints CPR has gathered.
Human rights watch police accountability page:
http://www.hrw.org/reports98/police/index.htm
In June of 1998, Human Rights Watch published a
comprehensive report on police brutality and misconduct in 14 US cities,
including Chicago. Research for the report was conducted between 1995 and 1998.
The report's table of contents (http://www.hrw.org/reports98/police/toc.htm) sets out what the report includes. The report contains both a
general survey and discussion of police brutality in the United States, but also
includes sections on the individual cities in the study. The report covers
general causes of the problem, local remedies, and litigation strategies using
§241 (criminal civil rights prosecutions) initiated by the government and §1983
actions initiated by private citizens. The report also includes a number of
appendices that explore how brutality has been prosecuted by the government both
in terms of the number of cases brought and the sentences handed down for
convictions.
The section of the report that focuses on Chicago
(at http://www.hrw.org/reports98/police/uspo52.htm) describes some specific incidents of torture and/or brutality,
describes how OPS and IAD handles (or doesn't handle) complaints, and summarizes
how criminal and civil litigation strategies have been employed in
Chicago.
Just cause law collective: http://www.lawcollective.org/
The Just Cause Law Collective provides legal support to
activists. Their page includes reports on being an activist, being a legal
observer, and preparing for a trial as a result of activist activities.
Justice coalition of greater chicago: http://www.jcgc.org
The Justice Coalition is an alliance of business,
civic, legal, educational, and religious organizations in the Chicago area who
combine efforts to address certain issues including the death penalty, juvenile
justice, racial profiling, and police accountability. The website includes a
calendar of upcoming events and links to documents associated with their
activities (such as their 12-point platform for police reforms).
List of freedom of information laws by state:
http://www.missouri.edu/~foiwww/citelist.html
Lists State open records/freedom of information
statutes.
National lawyers guild - national police
accountability project: http://www.nlg.org/npap/
The NLG's National Police Accountability Project is a
coordinated effort to provide resources and training to local projects
nationwide. Some of this website is restricted to members of the NLG (some
fee-based services are accessible through the site) but the site includes a free
list of research papers on issues in the litigation of police misconduct
(downloadable in Word Perfect 8 format), a list of recent court of appeals
decisions affecting police accountability, and articles on police practices. The
best resource on this site is an extensive list of links and resources, sorted
by specific topic headings (at http://www.nlg.org/npap/resources/topicindex.htm).
Police torture in chicago - chicago reader
archives: http://www.chireader.com/torture/index.html
An index to articles by John Conroy about police
torture in Chicago. Currently contains articles from as far back as 1990.
The video activist network: www.videoactivism.org
Information, resources, and handbooks regarding the
documentation and reporting of police misconduct.
View from the ground: http://www.viewfromtheground.com
An occasional publication of the Invisible Institute--
a set of relationships and ongoing conversations grounded in Stateway Gardens
public housing development on Chicago's South Side.
Racial profiling
ACLU and racial profiling: http://www.aclu.org/profiling/
This page contains recent news postings on racial
profiling in the US, and has a link to reports about racial profiling that
people have submitted to the ACLU. In addition, it has a link to the ACLU's
report "Driving While Black" (described below).
ACLU report on racial profiling: http://www.aclu.org/profiling/report/index.html
"Driving While Black" is a June 1999 report on racial
profiling in traffic stops, compiled by Professor David Harris of the University
of Toledo College of Law. The report explores the connection between profiling
and the misconception that drug offenses are committed primarily by minorities.
Harris discusses the political history behind racial profiling as a policy
connected with anti-drug measures. It also contextualizes the Whren decision
(which allowed for pretextual traffic stops). The article gives an overview of
recent media coverage of profiling nationwide, and has excellent statistics on
the race of drivers stopped on PA's I-95 (for which the ACLU initiated a class
action lawsuit). Finally, the ACLU presents a five-part plan for ending racial
profiling which includes ending pretext stops, requiring states to keep traffic
stop statistics through the passage of both federal and state laws, end the use
of racial-profiling in federal drug interdiction programs, and having America's
50 largest cities keep traffic-stop data statistics.
Race/poverty
ACLU and racial equality: http://www.aclu.org/issues/racial/hmre.html
This page contains recent postings of news stories
involving racial equality, an update of federal legislative actions on equality
(as well as background information on federal activity) has links to other
related ACLU sites (on racial profiling, affirmative action, the death penalty,
educational equality, including ACLU position papers on these issues), and has a
list of links to racial equality websites by other organizations. The page also
contains a search engine for ACLU news on racial equality.
The chicago reporter - race and poverty in chicago:
http://www.chicagoreporter.com
This well-respected publication has been covering race
and poverty issues in Chicago since 1972. Their website includes an electronic
edition of their current publication, and a searchable index of all their
publications since 1972 (about 400 articles are online now, and more are being
added). The index can be searched by topic or by year. This site also hosts an
online message board which contains individual postings about current topics (at
this writing some of the postings included opinions about the CPD).
Legal services
American bar association guide to legal services:
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/public.html
A comprehensive overview of how to obtain legal
services, including information on who qualifies for free legal aid or how to
obtain pro bono aid, finding and retaining an attorney, information on
representing one's self, finding legal information, and what to do about
problems with one's current attorney.
Illinois pro bono programs: http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/probono/pb?illinois.html
An ABA list with contact information for pro bono
programs in Illinois.
Government organizations
Chicago housing authority: www.thecha.org
Illinois state general assembly: http://www.legis.state.il.us/
The official site for the Illinois General Assembly
includes member information, committee information, daily calendars,
transcripts, voting records, and links to reports, state statutes, and the text
of current bills along with their status. A search mechanism on the page allows
individuals to enter their address to find out who their state representatives
are.
U.S. department of justice civil rights division -
special litigation section: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/split/index.html
The Special Litigation Section of the DOJ handles
police misconduct litigation (as authorized by 42 U.S.C. § 14141 and Title VI of
the Civil Rights Act). This site includes an overview of the DOJ's actions in
this area, examples of consent decrees reached in some of its cases,
investigative findings, the DOJ's briefs from certain cases, and opinions in
some of its cases.
A good overview of the DOJ's involvement with police
misconduct litigation is found on this site at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/split/documents/polmis.htm.
U.S. department of justice national institute for
justice: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij
The National Institute for Justice is the research and
development branch of the DOJ. Available online for download (in PDF or ASCII
text) are copies of its research publications since 1994. The section on law
enforcement publications (at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/lawedocs2001.htm) is particularly helpful to the PAP project, particularly the
March 2001 publication (181 pages) "Citizen Review of Police: Approaches &
Implementation."
The United States commission on civil rights:
http://www.usccr.gov
The USCCR's homepage has links to information about the
Commission's history and purpose and links to filing a complaint and doing
research at its libraries. Included on the site is a link to the Commission's
recent publication "Who is Guarding the Guardians?: A Report on Police Practices
and Civil Rights in America." (An index to the publication can be found
at http://www.usccr.gov/guardian/main.htm)
Contacting elected officials
Contacting members of the United States senate:
http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm
Addresses, emails, and phone numbers for members of the
senate are listed here, alphabetically both by name or by state
Votenet: contact information for state and federal
elected officials: http://cw2k.capweb.net/voteweb/
Votenet's website provides a free version of their
publication on contacting elected officials. The site's search engine provides
comprehensive contact information for both state and federal elected officials.
The site also includes a Congressional Schedule feature that includes daily
floor and committee schedules for the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S.
Senate.
Courts
Illinois courts
Illinois court system - official site: http://state.il.us/court/
The main page for the Illinois Court System, including
links to the Illinois Supreme Court (including its calendar and rules),
Appellate Courts, and Circuit Courts. From this site Illinois court opinions
from 1996 to the present can be accessed (using the search page at http://state.il.us/court/Opinions/Search.htm). This site also has a good set of links to other court and
judicial research sites.
Circuit court of cook county: http://www.cookcountycourt.org/
The Circuit Court's website includes general
information about the court (a helpful overview of its organizational structure
is in the "About Circuit Court" section). From the site a directory of judges,
court locations, and local agencies and resources (sorted by topic) can also be
accessed. Also available are the Circuit Court's Rules and Orders.
Federal courts
Alliance for justice: www.afj.org/
Information about the federal judiciary and judicial
appointments.
Cornell law school's United States supreme court
page: http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/
This site is a great site for researching the United
States Supreme Court. It contains a searchable database of all decisions after
1990, and most of the important Supreme Court decisions for the entire period of
its existence (all available in PDF format). It also includes the Court's
calendar, its rules, information on current and past justices, and a link to the
Supreme Court's official site.
United States supreme court 1999-2000 term
highlights (florida v. J.L. and police searches): http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/00highlts.html
This page of Cornell's Supreme Court page summarizes
the Court's opinions from the 1999-2000 term, with links to the opinions
themselves. This includes the case of Florida v. J.L., a Fourth Amendment case
that invalidated searches based solely on anonymous tips (a summary and access
to that opinion is at http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/98-1993.ZS.html).
Supreme court of the United States - official site:
http://supremecourtus.gov/
This site contains general information about the Court
and its procedures and policies, opinions from 1999 and 2000 (including slip
opinions), a search engine of the Court's docket, and a list of related
websites. However, Cornell Law School's United States Supreme Court page has a
larger database and more convenient search engine for accessing Court opinions
(at http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/).
Seventh circuit court of appeals - official site:
http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov
The Seventh Circuit's official site includes a limited
database of cases searchable by case number or party name(s). The database
includes cases from as far back as 1987. Also easily accessible are a list of
recent opinions, the Seventh Circuit's rules and procedures, the docket
calendar, and a practitioner's handbook. The site also contains a list of links,
sorted by circuit, to all the courts in the federal court system.
US district court, northern district of illinois -
official site: http://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/
This official site containing a list of judges (with
opinions and court calendar sorted by judge), recent opinions, court rules, the
court's daily calendar, and court document forms available for download.
RACER U.S. district court case search - northern
district of illinois: http://racer.ilnd.uscourts.gov/wconnect/wc.dll?usdc_racer~main
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Illinois participates in provides real-time access to court records (this is a
fee-based service and requires an account). The search page can be used to
access real-time docket information on recent district court cases. Some cases
also have available for download (in PDF format) images of court memorandum and
draft opinions, indictments, minute orders, and complaints.
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