2018 Injustice Watch Judicial Candidate Survey Responses

1. Name (State full name and any former names used)

John Christopher Benson

2. Age 60

3. Education (List schools, years attended, and degrees received)

Northern Michigan University, 1978-1982, B.A., English Literature and Philosophy

DePaul University College of Law, 1986-1989, J.D.

4. Current occupation and employer

John C. Benson, Attorney at Law (Sole Practitioner)

5. Current hometown, and neighborhood if Chicago. If subcircuit candidate: How long have you lived there?

I live in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago with my wife and 12-year-old foster son. I have lived in
the 8​th​ Subcircuit for approximately 32 years.

6. Work history (List with years)

Law Practice of John C. Benson 2010-present

In private practice, I focus on civil rights, criminal defense, and child protection cases. I handle complex
cases with DNA analysis, psychiatric and psychological testing, and medical examinations. I have
obtained financial compensation for those who have been wrongly arrested and incarcerated.
I also serve as a Guardian Ad Litem, representing the interests of minors as they are forced, through no
fault of their own, to navigate the complexities of the Child Protection Division of the Cook County Court
System. I have represented the interests of both parents and children in complex child welfare issues.

In addition to extensive trial and negotiation experience (Federal and State, Civil and Criminal), I have
also litigated appeals, including arguing before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Director, Criminal Defense, Cabrini Green Legal Aid 2003-2010

At Cabrini Green Legal Aid, I led a team of attorneys and volunteers in a rigorous client selection process
to ensure that Cabrini Green focused its limited resources on representation of individuals who were
unlikely to become involved in the criminal justice system in the future. I helped to select clients who
were either innocent of the charges, or who were minimally involved in the alleged activity but who had
strong family, community, religious, or other support systems that made it unlikely that the client would
return to the criminal justice system. I tried multiple, complex criminal cases at Cabrini Green. At
Cabrini Green, I assisted many young men, mostly African American or Latino, in their defense, helping
to ensure that they were not convicted of crimes they did not commit.
 Assistant Public Defender 1989-2003

I served as a Cook County Assistant Public Defender for 14 years, during which time I saw firsthand the
injustices suffered by minorities in the criminal justice system, and the long-term consequences that
family structures suffer as a result. While a public defender, I tried hundreds of cases with charges
ranging from DUI to capital murder. Also during my time as an assistant public defender, I litigated
complex mental health cases in the criminal justice context, including the insanity defense to the charge of
murder.

I was also certified as lead attorney for capital litigation by the Illinois Supreme Court. I represented four
men facing the death penalty.

7. In what areas of law do you have experience?

Criminal Defense, including juvenile offenders

Civil Rights
Child Custody and Protection

8. List your bar association memberships.

N/A

9. List all professional, business, fraternal, scholarly, civic, charitable, or other organizations to which you
belong

N/A

10. Describe your civic involvement.

I have focused my legal pro bono activities on assisting individuals held back by discrimination and
criminal records. Specifically, I have participated in NAACP’s bi-monthly free legal clinics to help
provide legal representation to individuals struggling to overcome discrimination. I have also participated
in an Expungement Summit, sponsored by Illinois State Representative Lisa Hernandez of the 24th
District (Southwest Chicago), during which I advised residents of the 24​th​ District of their right to have
their criminal records expunged and/or sealed, so that they can more easily apply for employment.

In addition to participating in legal clinics with the NAACP, I have tried to ensure that quality candidates
for state’s attorney and judicial positions have an opportunity to be heard by the voting public by serving
as a moderator and interviewer during NAACP-sponsored candidate debates.

On a more personal note, my wife and I are caring for a 12-year-old foster child. Through my work in the
juvenile justice and child welfare systems, I became intimately familiar with the difficulty that the child
welfare system has in placing older children in permanent homes. Having both come from stable, loving,
two-parent families, my wife and I decided that offering the same environment to an older child who was
 having difficulty finding a permanent placement was something that we could do. The challenges have
been significant, since the child has had an unstable, traumatic history. However, we expect the long-term
rewards to be great, as we hope to watch his life trajectory change from one of struggle and poverty to one
of success and contribution to society.

11. Describe your current and former political involvement.

N/A

12. Have you run for judge before? When and for which seat?

No.

13. List your published writings, with dates and with links if available.

N/A

14. Why do you want to be a Cook County judge?

I want to serve as a Cook County Circuit Court judge because I love courts, and I believe in the mission
of the court system – fair, impartial adjudication of a community’s disputes. I truly enjoy engaging with
lawyers who are working through complicated disputes with devotion to both compassion and cause. I
admire and want to be a lifelong participant in a system that takes complex, often emotional disputes, and
through the disciplined work of dedicated professionals, seeks to resolve those disputes fairly.

While several of my opponents for the Cook County Circuit Court Judge, 8th Subcircuit have previously
been appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to judicial vacancies, I do not believe that these prior
appointments should be determinative. Instead, I believe that 8th Subcircuit voters have the right to
determine which candidates best represent their overall perspectives about how the court system in Cook
County should operate. In speaking with many members of the public during the petition process, I
believe that my diverse legal background aligns with the demands and perspectives of 8th Subcircuit
voters.

15. What are the most pressing issues facing the justice system and why?

Current challenges to the legal system include: the war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentences, the
mass incarceration of African American men, the cyclical movement of individuals with mental health
conditions through the courts, and the pervasive use of fines and forfeiture laws in high poverty areas.

The above policies help keep many U.S citizens impoverished, incarcerated, and unable to support
themselves or their families. The above policies also disproportionately affect communities of color,
while doing little, if anything, to keep people safe.

16. How will your experiences help you serve as a good judge?
 In addition to providing me with broad-based legal experience, my career choices have helped me to
develop compassion, which I believe is necessary to serve as a fair adjudicator of disputes. For example,
through my representation of clients in the criminal and child welfare systems, I have come to understand
that individuals with mental health conditions and their families are hit hard on multiple fronts -- They
often simultaneously navigate the underfunded mental health care system, the child welfare system, and
the criminal justice system. Such prospects are daunting, particularly for those families without
sophisticated legal representation. At the same time, victims of crimes committed by the mentally ill
suffer greatly.

Moreover, my prior work with the American Peace Corps in the Yemen Arab Republic helped me to
develop compassion. I lived and worked in Sana’a, and, one day a week, I volunteered to work in an
orphanage operated by Mother Teresa, where I bathed and fed orphaned children and disabled adults. In
Yemen, I saw poverty and polio, but also the harsh outcomes produced by a society that did not support
its most vulnerable and underprivileged members. This experience fueled my work as an Assistant Public
Defender and at Cabrini Green Legal Aid, even when my tasks seemed daunting. I now hope to return to
public service as a fair and compassionate judge.

17. What do you wish voters knew about you?

For my 30-year career, I have been committed to using the law to protect the rights of those who suffer
from discrimination and systematic unfair treatment by the criminal justice system. For example, I
recently served on a federal civil rights team that represented​ ​four plaintiffs who each spent more than 15
years in prison (starting when they were teenagers—one being 15 years old) for a rape and murder they
did not commit. That case, commonly referred to as the “Englewood Four” case, recently settled with the
City of Chicago for approximately $32 million.

I also recently represented a vulnerable gay man in a lawsuit in federal court against a Chicago Police
Officer and the City of Chicago after the officer sexually assaulted my client (​Charles Norwood v. City of
Chicago and Chicago Police Officer Nelson Stewart, 13 C 2590). ​In that case, a Chicago Police Officer
sexually assaulted my client while my client was held in a police station lock-up. I sued the City of
Chicago, arguing that Chicago had inappropriate policies that allowed the harmful events to occur.
Specifically, because my client was a gay male detainee, policies did not allow him to be put in lock up
with other detainees. However, police detained him in an isolated area of the station, and police officers
could enter the area individually. It was in this environment that the predatory officer forced my client to
perform sexual acts. My goal, aside from obtaining justice for my client, was to change the lock-up
procedures for gay individuals. Ultimately, the case settled to the benefit of my client and policies were
changed.

In ​Greer v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation et. al., 13-cv-06793,​ I filed a federal civil rights
action against Amtrak. Amtrak employees mistook my client, a mentally disabled woman, for a homeless
panhandler and barred her from Union Station. The case settled to the benefit of my client.