The John Howard Association of Illinois, an independent prison watchdog and justice reform advocate, recently published a report introducing ways to reform the criminal justice system for youth prosecuted for serious offenses. This report takes a unique approach in asking the population in question about their experiences in the judicial system. Their responses were taken as a new framework in determining the fairness and effectiveness of the current system for youth prosecuted for serious crimes.
In past years JHA has worked to improve the criminal justice system’s response to youths who are prosecuted as adults in Cook County, Ill. In this research process, JHA conducted in-depth interviews with six young people who were prosecuted and convicted of adult crimes when they were at ages 15, 16 and 17. Those interviewed are currently still incarcerated in the Illinois Department of Corrections, serving sentences from 12 to 20 years.
“What’s powerful about the kids’ story was that no one was denying that they did something wrong,” said John Maki, executive director of JHA of Illinois. “They just wanted accountability and wanted a system that was accountable.”
[For more of this story, written by Yunjiao Amy Li, go to http://jjie.org/in-their-own-w...nile-justice/107783/]
Comments (0)