Newsroom

Greetings from Chicago, the "murder capital of America," a toddlin' town that's "gaining a national reputation for violence," the site of a "mini-Holocaust" on the streets due to our "epidemic of gun violence," all in the recent words of TV talking heads. Chicago has become the go-to reference for anyone looking to evoke the everyday horrors of the streets in contrast to such high-profile but unusual incidents as the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in suburban Orlando, Fla., last year.

The times, they are a-changin' and it means critical improvements for our kids and communities. In state legislatures across the country, an undercurrent of reform driven by youth advocates and policymakers of both parties has inspired a sea change within juvenile justice systems nationwide. This is dramatically reversing a troubling trend in youth incarceration, while also benefiting kids, saving taxpayer money and keeping communities safe.

Juvenile courts in Illinois now will be trusted with handling the cases of some minors previously tried as adults. It's a good thing that the cases against most 17-year-olds arrested for misdemeanors and felonies will be resolved in juvenile court beginning Jan. 1.

Joe Doyle was still a grad student at the University of Chicago in the late 1990s when he went to watch the proceedings in Cook County's juvenile court. He sat there while inexperienced lawyers argued over the fate of young offenders, mostly young black men. He witnessed judges who had to instruct those inexperienced lawyers on procedure at the same time that they, the judges, had to render life-altering decisions.