Report: Ill. saved $9M by diverting delinquents

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A report says Illinois saved $9 million last year through a program that diverted 184 delinquent young people away from costly youth prisons.

The 2010 cost-benefit analysis for "Redeploy Illinois" includes statistics from McLean, Lee, Macon, Madison, Peoria and St. Clair counties and other areas.

Redeploy Illinois began in 2005 and provides financial assistance to counties that agree to reducing by 25 percent the number of juveniles committed to state facilities from those counties. The state fund is used to provide counseling and other direct services to young people.