Juvenile Justice Initiative
The Juvenile Justice Initiative works to ensure justice, racial equity and human rights for all children and young adults in conflict with the law in Illinois.
Illinois Law Allows Children as Young as 10 to Be Detained Prior to Trial
Illinois has a crisis in detention - of the 14 juvenile detention (jail) centers that lock up children before trial only 4 met minimal standards in 2023. The harm to children, especially young children, is profound. JJI urges IL to raise the lower age from 10 to 13 to match the lower age for juvenile prison after a finding of guilt. Legislation is proposed to implement this reform - see fact sheet for HB 2347.
Lawyers for Children During Interrogation
SB 3321 [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”.
