Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner says he has a plan to fix the state’s juvenile justice system. It calls for barring kids convicted of a misdemeanor from being sentenced to prison. Illinois Public Radio's Patrick Smith reports.
Rauner and Department of Juvenile Justice officials on Friday unveiled a 32-point plan for the future. The governor focused on the incredibly high number of kids who leave Illinois youth prisons only to be arrested again.
RAUNER: Young people make a mistake, but then, they repeat it. And we’re not helping them break out of that cycle and become productive members of our society.
Department Director Candice Jones says step one is not letting low-level offenders ever get to prison in the first place.
JONES: We spend a lot of money on an intervention that by design does the opposite of what we want to do.
The plan also calls for hiring more staff and improving juvenile parole.