Juvenile Justice shows progress
When the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice was created in 2006, the state’s youth prisons held 1,500 juvenile offenders. Today, there are fewer than 900 kids behind bars in Illinois juvenile justice system.
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Treat all 17-year-old offenders as juveniles, Illinois Senate votes
Currently, 17-year-olds charged with misdemeanors are handled in juvenile justice courts while 17-year-olds charged with felonies are prosecuted in adult criminal courts and sent to adult prisons if incarcerated.
Under the proposal approved 40-10 by the Illinois Senate, all 17-year-old offenders would be handled by the juvenile justice system, although juveniles who commit serious crimes still could later be transferred and tried as an adult.