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Mark D. Hassakis, attorney and senior partner of the law firm Hassakis & Hassakis, P.C. in Mount Vernon, received an award from the Juvenile Justice Initiative, Illinois Association of Juvenile Justice Councils, Illinois Collaboration on Youth, Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission, Illinois Juvenile Justice Leadership Council and Illinois Models for Change, all conveners for their Re-Connecting the Pathways Conference June 3 in Springfield.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder returned to Chicago Wednesday to hail the “amazing” turnaround in school safety since the 2009 beating death of Fenger Academy student Derrion Albert — even after 50 school closings.

Gov. Pat Quinn on June 26 signed legislation that installs protections and procedures to help students bullied in Illinois schools.

"A child who is bullied is a child who is fearful of learning [and] fearful of coming to school," Quinn said at the signing, which was held at Skinner West Elementary School, 1260 W. Adams St. "We cannot allow bullying to take place within a school or outside a school. That's why the legislation that we're signing today is landmark legislation."

Using detention to handle delinquency is so old school. At least that appeared to be the consensus of more than 150 people attending a public forum convened Wednesday at Eisenhower High School by the Macon County Juvenile Justice Council and the Illinois-based Juvenile Justice Initiative.

Almost nine out of every 10 kids who spend time in Illinois youth prisons end up going back to prison within three years of their release. That high number – 86 percent, according to a report the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice prepared for the federal government last year – costs the state millions of dollars every year. And it’s a factor in the violence perpetrated and suffered by young people in Chicago every summer.

Chicago is well on its way to a more enlightened way of dealing with misbehaving and troubled kids.

Step One: Mostly done.
The Chicago Board of Education will vote Wednesday on a significantly revised student discipline code, building on changes made in 2012. The new code firmly moves Chicago away from zero tolerance — suspensions will become a punishment of last resort — and toward changing student behavior, not just punishing it. This should be an easy yes vote.

As part of ongoing efforts to find alternatives to harsh discipline, CPS plans to stop suspending students for using cellphones in class, prohibit almost all suspensions in prekindergarten through second grade and make out-of-school suspensions for older students a "last resort."