June 12, 2011 - Belden Fields, Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice

City Court is an unknown entity to most citizens in Champaign County.  When people think of courts, they think of the county or federal courts where one has certain constitutional rights. City Court is something altogether different.  

CU Citizens for Peace and Justice is a multiracial group that seeks to expose and remedy racial and class inequities in a number of areas of life in the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois community. One area is the criminal justice system. It deals with police stops in our primarily African neighborhoods, discriminatory arrests and charging by police officers and the States Attorney’s office, excessive use of force on the streets, the treatment of inmates in the county jail, and the conduct of trials and sentencing.