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Latest from Chicago Criminal Law Blog

Inactivity Reboot Feature Makes iPhone More Secure
Police agencies suddenly issued alarms recently when they noticed that suddenly iPhones in their possession were quietly rebooting on their own, frustrating law enforcement who had previously seized the phone and wanted to extract information from them. It was later revealed that the culprit was the newest security

Appellate Court Finds Law Enforcement Violated Constitutional Rights with Warrantless Search of Email Containing Possible Child Pornography
The Second Circuit of Appeals recently found that law enforcement violated the 4th Amendment rights of an individual when they opened an email that was flagged for possible child sexual abuse materials without a warrant. Google, who flagged

Voters to Weigh in on Marijuana Legalization, Police Funding, and Other Issues
With the upcoming election in November, voters in several states will have the opportunity to vote on several ballot initiatives that are designed to allow the public to have their voices heard on issues related to the criminal justice system. Some of these

Sexual Assault Accusations Against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Garth Brooks Rattles Music Industry
In the past several weeks there have been a new rash of criminal charges and accusations of sexual assault against icons in the music industry, including federal charges against Sean “Diddy” Combs and a sexual assault allegation against country star Garth Brooks.

As we have previously covered, the passing and implementation of the SAFE-T Act, which eliminated cash bail in Illinois, was a hotly debated/litigated issue that saw both sides forecasting the best/worst outcomes with the dramatic change in how pretrial release is handled at the state level. Advocates suggested that the new system would lead to

Federal Prosecutors Turn Over Brady Evidence Concerning Key Witness
The defense team representing indicted New York Mayor Eric Adams conveyed their belief to the media that the case against the embattled Mayor is weak after they recently received Brady evidence from the Department of Justice that could discredit a key witness in the case. So-called

Uncertainty Remains Around Prisoners Safety in the Face of Hurricanes
With Hurricane Milton approaching (and now passed), several county jails and prisons in the evacuation zone in Florida announced that they would not evacuate inmates before the storm made landfall, choosing instead to weather out the storm. Numerous officials defended the policy by pointing out

Extensive Chicago Police Surveillance System Falls Short of Expectations
The city of Chicago has one of the largest and most sophisticated surveillance networks in the United States, at great expense to the city’s taxpayers, but a recent investigation found that in practice the network of roughly 4,400 surveillance cameras is underutilized by the Chicago Police