A team of 14 Injustice Watch journalists documented 1,398 bond court cases in six different Cook County courthouses this summer, as part of the continuing Injustice Watch investigation into inequalities at different stages of the justice system. Here is their report.

More than 2,000 people each day are out of Cook County Jail but awaiting trial under an “electronic ball and chain”: They can’t work, go to school, pick up their children, or even buy groceries without a judicial “okay.”

Bail reform is more than just “the right thing to do,” officials and criminal justice experts argued at a public hearing Thursday—it’s also safe and affordable.

Cook County court officials already are seeking more money to provide the services needed to keep fewer people awaiting trial behind bars. But good news from other cities: It ends up costing less, not more, to release more people before trial.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced Monday that he is embracing an end to cash bail. “We’ve got to blow the system up and replace it with a system that is not dependent on wealth,” said Cara Smith, Dart’s chief policy advisor.

Suspects who can’t make bail in Cook County are more likely to end up convicted than those who are able to post bail. That disparity is one more argument being used to challenge the constitutionality of keeping people locked up before conviction just because they can’t afford bail.

Amid growing criticism of the bail system, Chief Judge Timothy Evans this week called Cook County a national leader in using risk-assessment data to set bond.

Does releasing more people before trial—without requiring bail money—make sense? Here’s what the numbers show.

Experts and affected residents will meet with commissioners in November to talk about Cook County’s bail practices.

A newly filed lawsuit contends that thousands of poor people, especially African Americans, are being illegally locked up before trial in Cook County because they are too poor to be able to post bond.

Like a game of jail roulette, money bail punishes defendants based on often arbitrary factors—including the size of their wallets. The cost to both inmates and taxpayers is tremendous.

First in a series of reports examining the unequal treatment afforded people of color at critical points in the criminal justice system.