Overview

Welcome to Resources, where you’ll find a variety of materials to support you in your practice, keep you informed on the latest developments in the law, and connect you to the wider juvenile defender community.

Visit Juvenile Case Law Summaries for updates on all juvenile-related decisions by the Illinois Supreme Court and Appellate Court, the United States Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and groundbreaking opinions from other jurisdictions.

For information on recent statutes and amendments affecting youth in conflict with the law in Illinois, visit Legislative Updates. Earlier legislative summaries can be found in Archives.

On the Publications page you’ll find links to reports, articles, and handbooks on a variety of topics, including: juvenile defense, racial and ethnic disparities, transfer, sexually-related offending, detention, sentencing, mental health, LGBTQ youth, and girls. Additions to the page will be announced on the JDRC Discussion Forum as they occur.

You’ll discover links to Illinois and national organizations working on behalf of youth in conflict with law on the Juvenile Justice Organizations page. The list includes law school clinics and organizations doing policy reform, research, information-sharing, and direct representation.

Visit the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender website where you’ll find a variety of useful information, including: the Illinois Criminal Law Digest; pending issues before the Illinois Supreme Court; information on adult and juvenile expungement; upcoming public defender trainings; and information on the Illinois Public Defender Resource Center.

The Illinois Juvenile Defender Practice Notebook was created in 2008 through a collaboration between by the Children and Family Justice Center of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University School of Law and the National Juvenile Defender Center. Eventually, we'll post an updated version that reflects changes in the law since 2008. In the meantime, we've included the original version because it's full of great practice tips and a general overview of juvenile practice in Illinois.

The Documents tab will take you to a set of folders that eventually will be filled with sample pleadings, forms, and secondary resources on a variety of topics applicable to your practices. Be sure to select the "Expand" option on that page to see all the available folders and subfolders by topic. We're currently in the early stages of collecting these materials, so you'll find many of the folders empty. As we populate a folder with materials, we'll make an announcement on the JDRC Discussion Forum. In the meantime, the National Juvenile Defender Center has a variety of sample pleadings  available to its members.