Programs

Life Without Possibility of Parole for Children

The Children and Family Justice Center is a founding member of the Illinois Coalition For Fair Sentencing of Children, a group of attorneys, academics, child advocates, and concerned citizens who are pursuing judicial, legislative, and other avenues designed to end the practice of sentencing children under the age of 18 to life without the possibility of parole in Illinois.

On February 13, 2008 the Illinois Coalition For Fair Sentencing of Children with the support of the US Human Rights Fund and the Libra Foundation released "Categorically Less Culpable: Children Sentenced to Life Without Possibility of Parole in Illinois" (pdf). The report offers an extensive and unprecedented look at the lives of the 103 Illinoisans serving life sentences without possibility of parole that they received as children.

Juvenile Criminal Justice

Know Your Rights Project
The Children and Family Justice Center and the Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Action Network of the Models for Change Initiative, with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, are releasing in a graphic novel "Know Your Rights" informing Illinois youths of their rights in the juvenile justice system. The graphic novel was created as part of a family engagement project that relied on youth and family focus groups.

"Know Your Rights: Your Guide to the Juvenile Justice System in Illinois"
English version (pdf) | Spanish version (pdf)

The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Project NIA, and the Chicago Freedom School will release a series of five zines featuring the voices of those affected by the criminal legal system and also tackling community issues: the History of the Juvenile Court, Girls in the System, Youth Voices (of the Incarcerated), the School-to-Prison Pipeline, and the Prison-Industrial Complex. This zine series was developed in connection with “Unfinished Business–Juvenile Justice,” the community-curated exhibit at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, on view through August 2011.

We want to share these zines with youth and those who care about reforming the juvenile justice and criminal legal systems. The work of creating a more just society continues, and we can all be part of the transformative social change through creative words and images.

Illinois Assessment of Access to Counsel & Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings Project
The Children and Family Justice Center in collaboration with the National Juvenile Defender Center with the support of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Models for Change Initiative released the "Illinois Assessment of Access to Counsel & Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings", a comprehensive examination of the scope and quality of legal representation received by children accused of committing delinquent acts throughout Illinois. The report's findings and recommendations are intended to stimulate discussion about the strengths and deficiencies in Illinois' juvenile indigent defense system. It is hoped that this report will serve as a tool for juvenile defense attorneys, policy makers, and leaders in juvenile justice to change the nature and structure of Illinois' juvenile indigent defense system.

"Illinois Assessment of Access to Counsel & Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings"
Full Report (pdf) | Executive Summary (pdf)

Immigration and Children

The CFJC offers legal representation to children and youth seeking asylum in immigration proceedings, advocacy in state abuse and neglect proceedings, and assistance in filing applications for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status relief and lawful immigration status pursuant to the Violence Against Women Act.

The center is particularly concerned with the status of unaccompanied child refugees. Some 5,000 unaccompanied children enter the U.S. each year and are detained by the Department of Homeland Security. They rarely have access to lawyers, and they have frequently been traumatized by war and civil strife, torture, and violence. The center has been involved in developing policy, speaking and writing and working with national advocates to improve the treatment and legal rights of these child refugees.

International Human Rights Law and Children

The CFJC works closely with organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to promote the welfare and well being of children in every country, as well as compliance with international law within the United States by working on issues such as the juvenile death penalty, violence against children, child soldiers, child refugees and children seeking asylum, children with HIV-AIDS and AIDs orphans, development of effective and humane systems of juvenile justice, and conditions of confinement. In February, 2009, the City of Chicago City Council adopted a resolution (pdf) on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The CFJC and the Center for International Human Rights of the Bluhm Legal Clinic prepared a Toolkit (pdf) for the Adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by City Councils and State Legislatures to help other organizations in their quest for city/state adoption of the Convention.