After years of anxiety, Tim has finally gained the security of an anonymous future. The young man from Antioch committed a sex crime at age 14 and was put on a registry open only to police, but he worried that a federal law might cause his identity to be made public.
That threat has passed. With …
December 28, 2011 Tags: IL, news
Category: Youth No Comments 
The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission released a report Tuesday recommending changes to the juvenile justice system that will emphasize rehabilitation and support alternatives to incarceration — a focus shift the commission predicts will produce massive savings for the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice.
The commission highlighted holes in the parole system that stack the odds against …
December 28, 2011 Tags: IL, news
Category: Policy, Youth No Comments
The law’s willingness to expose kids to adult criminal penalties is downright disturbing, considering how likely kids are to be wrongfully convicted — and in particular, how likely they are to falsely confess. The U.S. Supreme Court has found that the risk of false confession is “all the more troubling — and empirical studies show, …
Illinois’ juvenile justice system is failing to rehabilitate offenders and help them return to life in their communities, according to a state commission’s study to be released Tuesday.
More than half of the people released from state Department of Juvenile Justice facilities are later incarcerated again in the juvenile system, according to the study by the …
December 14, 2011 Tags: IL, news, resources
Category: Youth No Comments
The state of Texas comes in third behind Illnois and New York in the number of exonerations in the United States since 1989, according to data compiled by Mother Jones.
With the help of the Center on Wrongful Convictions and the Innocence Project, reporters Beth Schwartzapfel and Hannah Levintova built a state-by-state data set of exoneration …
December 12, 2011 Tags: IL, news, NY, TX
Category: Exonerated, Reform No Comments
In his ongoing effort to improve safety at public high schools Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently announced the start of a new school-based CompStat program for high schools.
The Chicago Police Department along with Chicago Public Schools have partnered to implement this program to help increase safety and reduce crime at high schools.
For Mayor Emanuel, it …
December 3, 2011 Tags: IL, news
Category: Projects, Youth No Comments
After serving 10 years in prison for a crime he has been cleared of, Robert Veal found out Friday there are still more roadblocks in the way to getting his conviction off his record.
Veal and four other men were convicted of the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Dixmoor in 1991, but last …
December 2, 2011 Tags: IL, news
Category: Exonerated No Comments
Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn said his office began tracking non-fatal overdoses this year from hospitals that will cooperate, compiling 30 so far. On his way to the forum, he got a call about an 18-year-old overdosing, who survived. There was another non-fatal case Tuesday night.
“These people sound as if they are going to be …
November 18, 2011 Tags: IL, news
Category: Addiction, Community No Comments
EXCERPT: Crime, violence and teens are a common trifecta in Chicago news with a rare focus on the “What’s next?” But the mission of a center in Ravenswood Manor is to focus on the “next.” The repair and the future for these Chicago youths.
Lawrence Hall Youth Services building located at 4833 N Francisco Ave (photo …
November 9, 2011 Tags: IL, news
Category: Projects, Youth No Comments
