The Pozen Center is seeking applications from students interested in joining a court-watching initiative being carried out in alliance with the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice during the Winter and Spring quarters.
The Network is a coalition of individuals and organizations devoted to reducing pretrial incarceration in Illinois as a step towards ending mass incarceration and addressing the root causes of socio-economic and racial inequity in the criminal legal system. The Network was instrumental in helping pass the Pretrial Fairness Act in 2021, which ended the practice of money bail in Illinois.
In 2024, the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice will be engaging in a statewide court-watching project to evaluate the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act. The Pozen Center is looking for students interested in engaging with this work to become part of a team of court watchers.
Some court-watching will take place in Cook County and some will be elsewhere. All applicants will be asked about their availability to travel to areas of Illinois outside of Chicago once a week or biweekly. Preference will be given to applicants willing to travel outside of Cook County (but within Illinois).
The approximate duration of the project is four months, starting with training in February 2024, court watching in March and April, and aggregating data and information through May.
The ideal candidates will be very organized, self-motivated and should be comfortable with sitting for long periods of time in court rooms. This is a great position for anyone interested in criminal law, legal reform, and access to justice. This post is open to second-, third-, and fourth-year students.
To apply please send a CV to Pedro Gerson (pgerson@uchicago.edu). Please write "Court-Watching Initiative" in the email subject line.