New Study Confirms Disparities in Juvenile Law.The 1987 Illinois Juvenile Court juvenile court Special court handling problems of delinquent, neglected, or abused children. Two types of cases are processed by a juvenile court: civil matters, often concerning care of an abandoned or impoverished child, and criminal matters, arising from antisocial Act, which requires that some young offenders A young offender is a person of either gender who has been convicted or cautioned for a criminal offence. Criminal justice systems often deal with young offenders differently from adult offenders, but different countries apply the term 'young offender' to different age groups be transferred to adult court, is now drawing scrutiny from county and state officials. The law targets teens as young as 15 years old who are caught selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school or public housing development. In May 2000 The Chicago Reporter revealed racial disparities in the law's application. New data from the Cook County public defender's office have bolstered the Reporter's findings. The law was initially aimed at violent offenders deemed dangerous to society, or whom the juvenile justice system could no longer help, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a study by the public defender's Juvenile Transfer Advocacy Unit. The study found that less than one-fourth of the 393 teens transferred in Cook County between October 1999 and September 2000 had been charged with violent acts. The majority of the transferred juveniles had been arrested on drug charges, the study showed, and 60 percent had either never received services in juvenile court or had been convicted. In "State Drug Law Hits City Teens, Minorities," the Reporter revealed that between 1995 and 1999, 99 percent of Cook County teens who were transferred to adult court were African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. or Latino. Ninety-seven percent lived in Chicago. The advocacy unit found a similar trend; less than one percent of the teens transferred for drug crimes were white. Betsy Clarke, director of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative, a non-profit advocacy organization on juvenile justice issues, added that since the majority of Illinois' public housing developments are in Chicago, "it's really a Chicago problem." Illinois State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie Barbara Flynn Currie is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 25th District since 1979. She represents the 25th District in Chicago which includes the communities of Woodlawn, South Shore, Hyde Park, and Kenwood. She is a Democrat. Rep. , a Hyde Park Hyde Park, park, London, England Hyde Park, 615 acres (249 hectares) in Westminster borough, London, England. Once the manor of Hyde, a part of the old Westminster Abbey property, it became a deer park under Henry VIII. Democrat, said she is aware of the disparities. On Feb. 14 she proposed House Bill 1028 in the Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois in the United States, created by the first constitution adopted in 1818. It works beside the executive branch led by the state governor and the judicial branch led by the supreme , which would eliminate the juvenile transfer provision. The young people most affected by the law are black, Currie said, and have never been in trouble with the law. "They are not hardened criminals by any stretch of the imagination," she added. |
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