Policy for Serving Pre-Adjudicated Youth
Effective January 2015
Redeploy Illinois funding: "…to develop local programming for youth who would otherwise have been committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice."
It is important to understand that pre-adjudicated youth are NOT the primary target population of the Redeploy Illinois program. Youth that have been adjudicated are at considerably higher risk of commitment to IDJJ than youth in a pre-adjudication status. However, if the Redeploy site is sufficiently meeting and exceeding the minimum reduction requirement, the Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board will allow pre-adjudicated youth to be served per the guidance below.
Definitions
Diversion: The term "diversion" refers to a circumstance in which a minor is required to participate in services in order to (1) avoid filing of a delinquency petition or allegation of a particular delinquent act or (2) avoid a referral to the State's Attorney for filing of such petition or allegation. These youth are not considered to be under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and have not been in front of a judge or had an opportunity to consult with defense counsel. These youth are not eligible for Redeploy Illinois services.
Pre-Adjudicated: Youth who are under the jurisdiction of the court (have been in front of a judge and had an opportunity to consult with defense counsel) and are at risk of commitment to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. For purposes of Redeploy Illinois, this will include the following:
- Youth who are under a court order evaluation
- Youth in pre-trial status
- Youth on probation
- Youth under court supervision
- Youth whose cases are continued under court supervision
Good Standing: A Redeploy Site is considered to be in "good standing" when the counties served within the site are sufficiently meeting and exceeding their minimum 25% reduction in eligible commitments. "Good standing" further requires that a Redeploy site not have any open Corrective Actions.
Criteria to Determine Eligibility for Serving Pre-Adjudicated Youth
The RIOB will allow a site to serve pre-adjudicated youth when both the site and the youth meet the eligibility criteria described below.
Site Eligibility: A Redeploy site must be in "good standing", as defined above, to considered eligible to serve pre-adjudicated youth. This status will be periodically reviewed as described below. Should a site's status change from "good standing" to "not in good standing", the site will continue to serve the existing pre-adjudicated youth but will cease to enroll new pre-adjudicated youth until further notice.
Youth Eligibility: Pre-Adjudicated youth, as defined above, who has been before a court and are at risk of commitment to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, may be considered eligible for services funded through Redeploy Illinois ONLY if they have received a full YASI assessment and scored medium to high risk.
If a youth is eligible for diversion, as defined above, they will NOT be considered eligible for services through Redeploy.
Annual Application/Program Plan & Periodic Review
As part of the annual planning process, the RIOB will require participating sites and counties to provide case-specific information on youth committed to IDJJ. Case specific data for youth receiving Redeploy services will also be reviewed by the RIOB, however, these data will be compiled from the eCornerstone system. If Redeploy sites and/or counties intend to serve pre-adjudicated youth, detailed and relevant information must also be included in the program plan.
The Board will regularly review IDJJ commitment data to determine whether Redeploy sites and counties are sufficiently meeting and exceeding their minimum 25% reduction in eligible commitments. If the RIOB does not believe that sites are adequately addressing the needs of adjudicated youth, the RIOB will suspend the sites ability to continue serving non-adjudicated youth until certain conditions (to be determined case by case) are met.
A Redeploy site may not serve pre-adjudicated youth if their program plan does not indicate the intention to do so. Therefore, should a site decide to begin serving this population, an amendment to their program plan will be required.
