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November 27, 2023
IDJJ staff members celebrate three youth graduates at GWTP

Young adults who are in the custody of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) are investing in their futures by taking advantage of vocational training and certification opportunities offered by Greater West Town Project (GWTP). In mid-October, three members of the inaugural cohort of IDJJ youth completed the National Safety Council’s forklift operator training, earning three-year certifications that also include a ten-hour Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) certification. 
In my work with Zed (fictional name), I’ve seen an adolescent who so desperately wants connection, but is so afraid it won’t last that he rapidly and abusively sabotages his positive relationships. He is profoundly adept at putting on a tough face and acting as if he does not feel lonely, sad, and hurt when this transpires, and he ultimately carries the belief that people always leave, so it is better to strike before being struck. This belief has become a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts and is heavily characterologically entwined with every facet of his being.

State audits point to troubling conditions in juvenile detention centers, but no agency has strong enough oversight to bring about change. In late December, a teenage boy with a broken arm was left to suffer alone in his cell at a youth lockup in rural southern Illinois. Staff were aware he’d been seriously injured; he told them he was in pain and asked to see a doctor. Two hours passed before staff took him to the hospital, during which they cooked and served dinner and took a group of kids for recreation, he claimed.

This is your brain on crime - New York Times Opinion
In 2022, according to F.B.I. numbers, there were 370 violent crimes reported for every 100,000 Americans. Even allowing for some underreporting, this likely means there was less than one violent crime for every 200 people. So the great majority of Americans haven’t been victims lately, or probably ever.
What this implies is that public views about crime needn’t have much to do with personal experience. They may instead be shaped by impressions people pick up from media, both news and social, and from politicians.

In other words, perceptions about crime are like perceptions about the economy — perhaps more so: They don’t necessarily bear much relationship to reality.

Growing up in a predominantly Black and Latino community on the West Side of Chicago, Candice Jones witnessed many of the people she loved arrested and imprisoned. She had a cousin whom she viewed as a gentle, loving father who cared deeply for his special needs child, but to the police, Jones said, his criminal record and participation in the “illicit economy” made him “public enemy number one.” 

“Those things, even as a child, felt really incongruent,” Jones said.

Audit reports show juvenile detention centers across the state are overusing room confinement and providing insufficient mental health services to youths in custody, among other issues.

In Winnebago County, teenagers in the juvenile detention center had their water shut off for hours “as a precaution to disruptive behavior.”
In Cook County, children as young as age 13 who come into the detention center are inappropriately strip searched.
*Opinions and viewpoints shared in the above articles do not necessarily represent views and policies of the Illinois Dept. of Juvenile Justice.
IDJJ's mission is to build youth skills and strengthen families to promote community safety and positive youth outcomes.