Acknowledgements

The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission (the Commission) serves as the federally mandated State Advisory Group to the Governor, General Assembly and the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHA) in developing, reviewing and approving the State's juvenile justice plan for the expenditure of funds granted to Illinois by the United States Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The Commission members include:

The Commission would like to acknowledge the dedication, hard work and tenacity of Heather Renwick and Stephanie Kollmann without whom this report would not have been written. In addition, the Commission also acknowledges the tremendous work of other Northwestern University School of Law clinic fellows and students including Steven Bychowski, Colby Dillon, John Doyle, Margot Gianis, Molly Haunty, Freya Riel, and Ethan Ucker. The Commission wishes to thank the members of the Prisoner Review Board, the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Corrections-Parole Division who cooperated fully with the Commission in this study by sharing their data and allowing observation of their operations. Finally, since the inception of the Commission's study, the Department of Juvenile Justice has begun a major reform effort under the skillful leadership of Director Arthur Bishop and his executive staff. Under his stewardship, the DJJ has begun to address some of the findings identified in the Commission's report as well as other issues which are beyond this study's purview. For these efforts, Director Bishop and his team should be applauded. Nonetheless, these positive reforms and those identified in this report require support and resources from the legislature.