Cohort 2023

Chicago Appleseed

Using Data to Reform Electronic Monitoring in Cook County 

Cook County, IL

Cook County, Illinois, has one of the largest pretrial electronic monitoring programs in the country, and people being monitored are concentrated in Chicago’s majority–Black and Latine neighborhoods. Although Black people make up less than a quarter of Cook County’s population, 44 percent of people in the county’s electronic monitoring program are Black men under 30 years old, making them the largest group on electronic monitoring in the county. Chicago Appleseed, an organization in Cook County, aims to devise strategies to advance systemic reforms of the county’s electronic monitoring system.

With Catalyst Grant funding, Chicago Appleseed will conduct a policy scan; analyze publicly available data on electronic monitoring from the Cook County Sheriff's Office, such as participant demographics, success and failure rates, and false alerts; and develop a report to educate policymakers on its findings. With this work, Chicago Appleseed will provide policymakers with accurate information about how electronic monitoring works to promote a more equitable and effective system.