Juvenile Courts
Cook County created the first juvenile court system in the country in 1899. The juvenile division hears more than 2,400 delinquency cases and about 1,000 cases of alleged abuse and neglect against children each year.
Featured Story
Interviews, site visits, and records reviewed by a legal advocacy group reveal abusive behavior by staff against mostly Black teens with learning disabilities, according to a new report. Jail officials deny the claims.
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Featured Project
More than 160 juvenile offenders in Illinois were serving de facto life sentences in 2019, despite recent court decisions limiting life sentences for youths. Following this project, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that opened resentencing possibilities for many juveniles serving lengthy prison terms of more than 40 years.
More Juvenile Courts
Cook County juvenile jail using ‘semantics’ to hide many hours youths are isolated: report
Most youths at the jail ‘are locked in their cells for most of the day, every day,’ possibly resulting in long-term damage to their mental health, according to a committee convened last year by Chief Judge Tim Evans.
‘Gang contracts’ in Cicero and Berwyn schools raise concerns about criminalization of youth
More than 100 students in seven years have signed “gang contracts” for a suspected gang affiliation.
Illinois bill would expand civics and voter education to incarcerated youths in state custody
A bill expanding voting access and civics education curriculum to incarcerated youths passed unanimously through the Illinois General Assembly thanks to voting rights advocates.
3 takeaways from the state’s investigation into special ed at Chicago’s juvenile jail
A state investigation sheds light on the conditions for special education students in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center during the Covid-19 pandemic.
State education officials order CPS to fix special education issues for students behind bars
The Illinois State Board of Education issued a corrective action plan for Chicago Public Schools in response to a complaint over alleged failures to serve special education students at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.
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