Juvenile Justice Improvements Approved by Illinois General Assembly
Jun 23, 2009, Illinois Models for Change
The Illinois General Assembly has approved two pieces of legislation aimed at improving the state’s juvenile justice system. Both bills are in line with the Models for Change core principles of fundamental fairness and recognize the need to help young people realize their full potential.
- Senate Bill 1030 would allow juveniles charged with a misdemeanor as a first offense to file a petition for an expungement review hearing when they turn 18 or completion of the sentence, whichever is later. By simplifying the process in Illinois and making expungement in limited situations automatic unless an objection is filed, the law change will reduce the need for young people to hire attorneys. Many youths, especially people of color and inner city residents, have not been able to afford an attorney for expungement help, and the change in law would lift a barrier to giving youths a fresh start.
- Senate Bill 1725 would require the Juvenile Justice Commission to report the number of youth confined in the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) for parole revocation based on a technical parole violation, the length of time the youth spent on parole prior to revocation, and demographics concerning the youth. This data would be the basis for recommendations to improve the reentry system and outcome measures to assess the success of the state’s reentry efforts.
According to the latest published reports from the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, 42 percent of the juvenile admissions in Fiscal Year 2005 were for “technical parole violations.”
“This is an enormous percentage of the number of youth locked up in our system,” said Betsy Clarke, President of the Juvenile Justice Initiative. “Once we have data that tells us about these youth and why they are returned, more effective services to help youth be successful will be much less expensive than paying over $70,000 per year to house a youth in confinement."
“It is difficult to know what changes need to be made when the data is not reported on why youth are returned to incarceration,” Clarke said.
With the exception of the Cook County area, parole officers in Illinois have a shared caseload of adults and juveniles. This “shared service” often means juveniles are treated like adults and may be returned to incarceration for “technical violations.” Under the current system, juveniles released from the Department of Juvenile Justice facility are on parole until they reach the age of 21 regardless of their age when they left DJJ.
Additional materials
Text of SB 1030
Fact sheet about SB 1030 (PDF)
Text of SB 1725
Fact sheet about SB 1725 (PDF)
- Issues
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Aftercare
, Juvenile indigent defense
, Racial-ethnic fairness/DMC
- States
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Illinois