Legislation aims to keep some teens out of jail

klester@dailyherald.com

Juvenile justice legislation signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn will require judges to review several new factors in sentencing young offenders, including a youth’s mental health and educational needs, in order to issue a finding that incarceration is necessary. “Not only is incarceration expensive, it doesn’t work,” said Sen. Annazette Collins, a Chicago Democrat, in a statement.

A judge in the case of Angel Facio, who attacked an Elgin High School teacher in 2008, considered many of the background factors before making his decision to hand the Elgin teenager an 18-month sentence in juvenile corrections, but the consideration was not then required by law.

In the five-month court case that followed the attack, Judge Paul Stralka relied heavily on the testimony of forensic scientist James Corcoran, who conducted a psychiatric evaluation of Facio.

After considering Facio’s lack of criminal record at that point, a chaotic home life and good behavior in juvenile detention, Judge Paul Stralka said a juvenile sentence with an adult sentencing provision “would sufficiently protect the community.”

The new legislation applies primarily to teens who are charged with misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies.

Teens like Facio who commit violent acts and pose a risk to the community, still will be required to serve time in correctional facilities, but the new legislation directs judges to consider whether treatment in a youth community would be a better option than incarceration in a state juvenile prison.

By preparing and filing what the legislation calls an individualized case plan, the court must document all of the available less restrictive alternatives to incarceration.

The plan must also “include an individualized re-entry plan to return the minor to his or her home as soon as possible with supportive services to ensure his or her successful re-entry,” the law says.

The cost of incarceration in state juvenile prisons ran, on average, $86,000 per bed last fiscal year, state figures show.

“Research demonstrates that community alternatives are cheaper and have far better outcomes with youth more likely to return to school and move on with their lives,” said Elizabeth Clarke, president of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, one of the main proponents of the legislation.

A Research on Pathways to Desistance study of more than 1,300 juvenile offenders found that institutional placement appears to have no advantage over probation in reducing rates of rearrest or self-reported offending.

Stralka’s decision in the stabbing case came before Facio was prosecuted for committing another unrelated crime. The next fall, Facio received a 16-year sentence in Kane County adult court for the sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl. He will remain locked up for at least the next 10 years.