Illinois changes juvenile justice law

Illinois has joined “37 other states, the District of Columbia, the Federal Government and and nearly every other nation in the world” in raising its age for exclusive juvenile court jurisdiction from “prior to his or her 17th birthday” to “prior to his or her 18th birthday.” Effective January 1, 2010, any 17 year-old charged with a misdemeanor will be heard in juvenile court. Any 17 year-old charged with a felony but is only convicted of a misdemeanor must be sentenced under the Juvenile Court Act. Also enacted was the creation of a “Juvenile Jurisdiction Task Force” to report to the Illinois legislature by January 1, 2010 whether 17 year olds charged with a felony should also be referred to juvenile rather than criminal court. If approved, those children would be petitioned to juvenile court beginning January 11, 2011. The full text of the bill is available here.