The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission contracted with the Center for Prevention Research and Development at the University of Illinois analyze statewide and county-level juvenile detention data for calendar year 2014. The enclosed report is the result of this project.
Overall, Illinois has made significant reductions in the number of youth detained over the years. At the same time, we recognize the work remaining in our efforts to use detention fairly and sparingly.
The data contained in this report has considerable breadth and depth. We encourage you and local partners to review statewide data and trends, but most importantly to spend time and thought with the data from your own jurisdiction.
Finally, our purpose is not to highlight any county for particularly “bad” (or “good”) statistics. Rather, we want this information to start local conversations about how detention is used. In addition to posting the report here, we will distribute the report to many juvenile justice stakeholders.