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Paris Taborn chose to leave Springfield High.

“I kept getting in trouble at school. So like, I would get sent home, and stuff, every day. I would just come to school — oh, your shirt’s too short. Come to school — your bra strap’s showing.”

A former gang member, Cutberto Berto, 21, is now a clean-cut, good-looking college senior at Dominican University in River Forest, where he is student body president.

GALESBURG — Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation Tuesday that would effectively grant judges greater discretion in handling cases that involve transferring juveniles to adult court.

Responding to a scathing report by the civil rights group, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy agreed to have a retired judge evaluate the department’s stop-and-frisk practices and require his officers to document whenever they conduct a pat-down. Read the article here.

Governor Rauner signed four juvenile justice bills; they will go into effect on January 1, 2016. Read the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice Press Release regarding the reforms.

When a dormant coalition to examine the juvenile justice system in DuPage County began meeting again this spring, Shannon Hartnett pulled some statistics on the roughly 350 to 400 youths who were on probation.

What caught her attention was the mental health problems these young people experience.

The Daily Herald Editorial Board Read the full editorial here. When it comes to discussing funding for addressing the mental health needs of Illinois youth, we have to be realistic. The outlook for advances, perhaps even for stability, in a state that is sliding backward economically is not promising. … Finding what will help and

Thanks to concerns about the expense of prison overcrowding in Illinois but also due to increased understanding of effective approaches to reduce recidivism and to keep juveniles away from prison, Illinois state government has been on a decade-long run of enacting “smart on crime” legislation.

https://www.kfvs12.com/story/29223237/southern-il-program-helps-youth-stay-out-of-juvenile-justice-system/ KFVS-TV (Cape Girardeau, MO) June 2, 2015 CARTERVILLE, IL (KFVS) – A new program is coming to southern Illinois to help children stay out of the juvenile justice system. It’s called Multi-Systemic Therapy, a program that’s been used around the world. The Caritas Family Solutions wanted to incorporate the program and bring it to

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-illinois-child-offenders-met-20150601-story.html Chicago Tribune June 1, 2015 State lawmakers on Sunday passed a bill that would reduce the number of juveniles automatically transferred to adult court. At issue was not whether juveniles can be tried as adults. Rather, it’s whether a juvenile defendant should be allowed a hearing in front of a juvenile court judge who