Recent Changes to the Juvenile Court Act of 1987—SB2275—Amends 705 ILCS 405/5-105 et. Seq.

Recently, the Illinois State Senate passed amendments to the Juvenile Court Act raising the age under which a minor will be treated as a juvenile from 17 to 18. The bill, SB 2275, was first introduced by State Senator John Cullerton and provides that any minor who has not yet reached his or her 18th birthday will subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the juvenile court system for any violation solely classified as a misdemeanor offense.

The age limit for offenses not solely classified as misdemeanors remains 16. However, any 17 year old charged with multiple offenses, some classified as misdemeanors and others not, will be prosecuted under the general criminal laws of the State. If after trial or plea the court finds that the minor has committed an offense that is solely classified as a misdemeanor, the court is required to sentence the minor under The Juvenile Court Act.

The bill also creates a Juvenile Jurisdiction Task Force. The Task Force will study, budget and implement this expansion juvenile courts’ jurisdiction and made its report by January 1, 2010 when the changes become effective.

In the bill, the General Assembly noted that 37 other states, the federal courts and the courts of most of the rest of the world use 18 as the age of juvenile court jurisdiction. The legislature also recognized studies showing the lower age disproportionately impacts minority youth, and studies indicating that those parts of the brain controlling reasoning and impulse behavior are not fully developed until one’s early twenties.

In 1889, Cook County, Illinois created the world’s first juvenile justice system focusing on rehabilitation rather than punishment. That focus changed during the 1980s and 1990s, as Illinois followed the national trend toward treating teenagers as adults in its criminal courts. However, due to statistics indicating that juvenile crime was trending downward while recidivism was trending upward, and public opinion polls favoring rehabilitation programs, this trend has been reversing both nationwide and in Illinois.

In 2004, the Illinois Department of Human Services developed a pilot program called Redeploy Illinois, to decrease both the total number of jailed minors and recidivism. Redeploy Illinois provides financial incentives to programs addressing the underlying causes of non-violent delinquent behavior such as mental illness, substance abuse, learning disabilities, unstable living arrangements and dysfunctional parenting.

DHS recently reported that in its first two years, Redeploy Illinois pilot sites have, on average, reduced incarcerations by 44% and the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice reports a savings of $3.55 million in costs to incarcerate juveniles for every $1 million spent by the four Redeploy Illinois Pilot sites .

In 2006, the Department of Juvenile Justice was created as a separate department to specifically focus on the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders including treatment and services including education, vocational, social, emotional, and basic life skills training. Eight juvenile facilities and the Department of Juvenile Justice School District were moved into the new department which also provides transitional and post-release treatment programs for juveniles, including counseling, mental health, and substance abuse services.