The Second District Court of Appeals in Illinois vacated a 66-year sentence finding that the trial court misinterpreted youth-related statutory factors as aggravating instead of mitigating factors. The court stated in relevant part: “Defendant also argues that the trial court incorrectly interpreted the statutory factor of his ability to consider the risks and consequences of…
From the abstract: “This Note provides a general review of the current state of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), including Illinois state regulation and past federal regulation attempts. This Note asserts that even as datasets become more diverse and “fairer,” FRT may still have discriminatory impacts on minority populations, as evidenced by a few highlighted examples…
“Suspensions, expulsions, and school-based arrests: These exclusionary and overly punitive disciplinary responses disproportionately impact Black students and have become normalized throughout the nation. In reality, school pushout, or the disciplinary sanction of removing students from the classroom, contravenes the very purpose of public education to prepare children to engage as full citizens in our democratic…
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This issue brief by the Juvenile Justice Initiative provides an overview of transfer laws in Illinois. Additionally, the brief reviews demographic data on young people who are being tried as adults and identifies the ways that transfer fails children and public safety in the state of Illinois. The brief ends by calling for a return…
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found that a liberty interest may exist for short periods of solitary confinement in deplorable conditions and offered the following language in support. “Jackson presented evidence showing that he was subjected to three months in appalling conditions of solitary confinement at Pontiac. Taking that evidence as true, Jackson had…
The Illinois appellate court reversed the trial court’s sentence of 14 years for an aggravated driving under the influence and reckless homicide conviction based on defense counsel’s failure to produce evidence related to youth-based factors in mitigation. The court offered the following language in support. “Because defendant was a minor when the crash occurred, the…
This report is the latest in a series of Juvenile Justice Initiative (JJI) reports on juvenile detention, building on prior research in concluding the time is ripe for a complete overhaul of the juvenile detention system in Illinois.
From the statement of interest: “The Constitution protects children in juvenile justice facilities from excessive isolation. The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits conditions of confinement that are not rationally related to a legitimate government objective or that are excessive in relation to that objective. Plaintiffs, a putative class of children detained at the Mary Davis Detention Home…
From the introduction: “This brief tells the story of how the four Models for Change states—Pennsylvania, Illinois, Louisiana, and Washington—are already moving to reform and reshape their own state juvenile justice systems. These states have demonstrated strong leadership in juvenile justice policy, value collaboration and engagement, and because of their efforts, have changed the political…
From the introduction: “In this Pathway we explore why youth of color are overrepresented in the juvenile detention system and review what has been done in some sites to reduce the number of minority youth in detention. Dealing with disparity in the use of detention has been one of the most challenging pieces of the…
