Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission
Receives $2 Million in Federal Funds
to Develop Alternatives to Jail

The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission announced recently that Illinois has received $2 million in federal juvenile justice funds to aid localities in developing alternatives to placing youthful offenders in adult jails.

This brings the total funds granted to Illinois by the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention since 1980 to more than $22 million.

At press conferences in Chicago and Springfield, Dallas Ingemunson, Chairman of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission and Kendall County State's Attorney, said Illinois would not have received new funding if Governor James R. Thompson had not vetoed a bill which would have delayed the implementation of Illinois' new Juvenile Detention Law to April 1990. Thompson vetoed the bill in September.

The Juvenile Detention Law, which became effective in July 1989, prohibits local officials from detaining minors in adult jails and municipal lockups for more than six hours. This brings result of the new law, youth must be transferred to a community-based program or an approved detention center.

The law also prohibits officials from placing children under the age of 10 in jail with adult criminals. At least 40 youngsters held in Illinois jails last year were 10 years old, Ingemunson said.

Ingemunson said "as a prosecutor, I can tell you that the courts in Illinois have too few options for juvenile offenders."

"Primarily, we have two choices — either to send the minor back home to his parents or lock him up with adult criminals. We need a wider range of options," he noted. "Adult jails are not equipped to provide education, drug and alcohol treatment or counseling services to youth. It is no longer realistic to expect jail officials to reserve scarce jail cells for youth when our jails need these spaces for violent adult offenders."

The federal regulations require that youth who are kept in jail must be kept separate from adult criminals. But this separation has in the past caused problems for jail officials. Counties have had to hire separate staffs to supervise juveniles and to provide the continuous monitoring which the federal regulations say is necessary to prevent suicides or assaults by juveniles.

According to Ingemunson, separation of juveniles in adult jails has led to increased number of suicides. A national study conducted by the Community Research Associates in Champaign, IL, found that the suicide rate for juveniles held in an adult jail is 12 times greater than in juvenile detention centers.

"To date, Illinois has not had a suicide involving a juvenile, but it is only a matter of time," Ingemunson said.

According to figures compiled by the Commission, nearly 6,000 youth were held in Illinois' jails and lockups in 1988 and more than 1,200 juveniles spent more than six hours in jail. The average youth spent eight days in jail and more than 100 were in jail for three weeks.

Ingemunson said that all of these children are not violent. In fact, 700 children were jailed running away from home, skipping school or for other behavioral problems. And, 80 percent of those jailed were charged with non-violent offenses which posed no imminent danger to public safety.

"As a result of this new detention law, this won't happen in the future," Ingemunson said.

Alternatives implemented in other largely populated states like New York, Michigan and Ohio include youth attendants, where the juvenile is held in a room in a county building with continuous supervision by an off-duty policeman or volunteer; evening report centers, which monitors the juvenile after school; family crisis intervention, which provides mediation services to families in crisis; and day treatment, emergency shelter facilities, group homes and separate detention facilities.

"We've found that nationally, 90 percent of the youth involved in these programs are not involved in future crime while enrolled and there has been no increase in the juvenile crime rate," Ingemunson said.

In Illinois, justice officials report that most of the youth involved in local juvenile prevention programs comply with all the conditions required by the court. And, they are cheaper than jail and juvenile detention facilities. Youth attendant supervision costs as little as $10 a day and home detention costs $20 a day, compared to $50-$65 for jail confinement and $50-$75 for juvenile detention facilities in Illinois.

The Commission is launching a statewide public educational campaign to educate local officials of the successful alternatives which have been implemented in other states. And, the Commission is available to provide direct training and technical assistance to those counties who request it.

The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission is a 25-member organization, appointed by the Governor, consisting of police officers, judges, states' attorneys, defense attorneys, youth service professionals and citizens. Their role is to oversee the implementation of the new detention law, grant funds and provide technical assistance to localities. •

January 1990 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 15