General

As Congress weighs how to spend federal dollars in 2016, it is essential that they not overlook our country’s most valuable and vulnerable resource: our children.
In years past, federal funds have helped states finance programs that serve children who are, or are at-risk of becoming, involved in our juvenile justice system. These programs help build stronger futures for our young people, families, and communities by providing children with the supports they need to become successful adults.

So … keep marching. Civil disobedience has led to justice in this country and can do so again. March until we get it right. Change the system.

The number of children being committed to prisons or other detention facilities has dropped by about 53 percent across the country. According to a recent look at federal data by the Pew Charitable Trust, Illinois saw the eighth largest drop in that number from 2001 to 2013. Elizabeth Clarke, president of the Illinois Juvenile Justice

From a dilapidated, dangerous detention facility where abuse of inmates was rampant, to a modern rehabilitation center where juvenile delinquents go to school, learn yoga and get mental help

A teenager who pleads guilty to a minor offense might end up facing a true jury of his or her peers, at least in St. Clair County. Teen court is entering its second year as a justice program to allow nonviolent first-time teen offenders to be sentenced by a peer jury. Teenage volunteers undergo training to learn how to hear evidence, deliberate and come to an appropriate sentence.

"Let me start by saying there's no question that bad people who do illegal things should be locked up. But I have two major problems with mandatory minimum sentencing. I think it's highly unlikely that threatening thugs with extra prison time will deter them from getting illegal guns and shooting up neighborhoods. […] Elizabeth Clarke, president of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, expertly explains my second problem with mandatory minimums. And that is the lack of discretion that it gives judges.

'The judge can't take into consideration things like the degree of culpability and the potential for change and rehabilitation for the individual,' she said. 'So people end up pleading to lesser offenses whether they're guilty or not because they're afraid of a mandatory minimum if they lose at trial.'"

There's good news and bad news about sentences in federal prison. The good news: Prison sentences are getting shorter. The bad news: Black defendants are still getting longer sentences than white ones for the same crimes — and the racial gap is actually growing.

Candice Jones, Director of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice and Paula Wolff, Director of the Illinois Justice Project, write about the recent steps the state has taken to improve the lives of children and families touched by the juvenile justice system.

Kane County State's Attorney's Juvenile Justice Council is conducting an online survey of Kane County residents to help determine gaps in programming that can help keep juveniles from getting in legal trouble and ways to curb juvenile recidivism.