MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE JJI 25 YEAR GALA - See Video of JJI Accomplishments

Illinois Law on Detention of Children Soon to Change……

The Juvenile Justice Initiative convinced Illinois stakeholders to begin to raise the minimum age of detention of children from 10 to 13, beginning on July 1, 2026.

Public Act 104-0449 (Representatives Slaughter and Andrade, Jr.; Senators Peters, Ventura and Collins) will gradually end the practice of detaining young children by raising the minimum age from 10 to 12 beginning on July 1, 2026; and subsequently raising the minimum age to 13 (with a few carve outs for 12 year olds with specified serious offenses) by July 1, 2027. The new law also creates reporting mechanisms to document any gaps in services for this young population.

The number of children impacted by these changes is small - virtually no ten year olds were detained over the past 3 years, and only an average of one/month of eleven year olds were detained anywhere in IL between 2022-2024. But the negative impact on such young children is profound, and this reform gives communities the opportunity to realign programs and services to change the trajectory of these young lives for the better.

To that end, the bill also creates a Child First Reform Task Force to propose community-based alternatives (including restorative justice) to juvenile detention as well as consider the conditions and administration of individual juvenile detention centers, identify the resources needed to consistently meet the minimum standards set by IDJJ and AOIC, evaluate complaints arising out of juvenile detention centers, and identify best practices to provide detention center care. This comprehensive review is critical (see our report from last Spring on the systemic failures in our state's juvenile detention system - JJI Detention Report )

Lawyers for Children During Interrogation

SB 1787 [Sen. Robert Peters] will protect children during interrogation by requiring that they have a lawyer with them throughout the custodial interrogation. Juveniles aged 13 to 18 are at risk of prosecution in adult court. Depending on their statement, even being at or near the scene of an offense could trigger transfer provisions that send them automatically to adult court (and adult mandatory sentencing) based on accountability. 

We Believe Detention or Incarceration Must Be a Last Resort

Article 37(b) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states unequivocally that “No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time”.