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ILLINOIS CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION AUTHORITY
ICJIA  »  ICJIA Overview Overview
Jan 24, 2025
Illinois Juvenile Justice System Data Trends Pre- and Post-COVID-19
This article provides a snapshot of juvenile trends from 2018 to 2022. It is meant to be a brief overview of youth statistics in the juvenile justice system. In the United States, in the past decade, the number of youths in the juvenile justice system has been declining. COVID-19 precautions have also contributed to the decline. They kept fewer youths from entering the system and allowed more to be released from juvenile justice supervision. We examined juvenile justice trends over the five years between 2018 and 2022. We analyzed arrest, detention, youths continued under supervision, informal probation, and corrections in Illinois. We found that the number of youths in the Illinois juvenile justice system decreased from 2018 to 2022, even though more youths were arrested in 2022 than in 2018. Illinois juvenile arrests in 2022 were higher than pre-pandemic levels, with more significant increases in Cook County and for Black youths. Another notable increase from 2018 to 2022 was the number of youths transferred to adult court.
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