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Raising the age for juvenile jurisdiction in Illinois: Medical science, adolescent competency, and cost

Legislation is pending in Illinois that would redefine a juvenile, for the purpose of delinquency proceedings, as a person under eighteen years of age.1 The Illinois Juvenile Court Act presently defines a “delinquent minor” as any minor who violated any law prior to his seventeenth birthday.2 Thus, seventeen-year-olds are prosecuted as adults in adult criminal court. The proposed changes would add seventeen-year-olds to the definition of delinquent minors so that these teenagers would be prosecuted in juvenile court. If the proposal becomes law, Illinois would join thirty-seven other states, the federal government, and most foreign countries in defining a juvenile as an adolescent less than eighteen years of age.3 Previous attempts to raise the age for delinquency in Illinois to include seventeen-year-olds have failed.4 Attempts to raise the age for delinquents have been vigorously opposed. In Illinois, county governments are responsible for the expenses of holding juveniles prior to trial.5 Counties must also pay for most of the services provided to delinquents, including the cost of probation supervision and drug treatment.6 Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, has been a leader in opposing any changes in age for delinquents because of the