Understanding the Illinois Criminal Justice System

An advocacy group dedicated to the efficient and effective application of justice resources and proven practices to reduce recidivism and restore individuals to stability and productivity in their communities/
-A. McCormick

Illinois BARJ is made up of collaborations from around the state representing victim and offender advocates, the judiciary, prosecutor and defense attorneys, law enforcement, probation, corrections, schools, community and faith-based organizations.

The Juvenile Justice Initiative is a statewide advocacy coalition to transform the juvenile justice system. The JJI advocates to reduce reliance on detention, to enhance fairness for all youth and to develop adequate community based resources throughout the state.

With the goal of adding a progressive voice to the Illinois political media sphere, Progress Illinois launched in March 2008 thanks to a founding sponsorship from the SEIU Illinois State Council. The PI editorial team – made up of editor-in-chief Aricka Flowers and contributing reporter-bloggers Matthew Blake and Aaron Krager – publishes 40-50 items per week covering a range of timely issues. This content draws from the best articles and commentary on the topics at hand, supplements this material with original reporting and analysis, and provides resources for those seeking to learn more.





A great resource about policy in Illinois.
-J. Diaz

A useful source is the FindLaw section which deals with Illinois state law. I've used it before in other classes, and I think it makes a nice complement to the THOMAS search engine which is already included in the guides - it focuses on existing statutes organized by code, as opposed to arranging them chronologically and fragmenting them into individual bills, and in my experience it's a lot easier to use than LexisNexis. It could be really useful in researching the current regulations and institutional structures of the Illinois criminal justice system. T. Chapman

This site had very helpful information when I was researching parole and probation processes. They also have helpful databases with contact information.
-M. Melgar

Great resource to get some facts/contact info for possible key informants.
-J. Diaz

Includes its annual reports and many other publications and links

The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission (the Commission) serves as the federally mandated State Advisory Group to the Governor, the General Assembly and the Illinois Department of Human Services. The Commission has 25 member positions appointed by the Governor. They have training, experience, and/or special knowledge concerning the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency or the administration of justice. Members serve three-year terms and serve until such time as they have been reappointed or replaced

Includes a link to its Media Resource Center and to Publictions & Research

This database provides a plethora of quantitative administrative data that must be mined.
-A. Kumar

The directory allows you to search by agency and then lists employees by their job title. Some of the agencies listed in the directory include the Department of Corrections, the Prisoner Review Board and the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. It's a handy tool for seeking out individuals for key informant interviews and surveys within specific agencies.
-M. Sellman

This Executive Summary of the Crime in Illinois 2009, annual uniform crime report, is intended to provide readers with a high-level overview of the nature of crime in Illinois. This summary highlights statewide statistics and topics of interest
-S. Rodriguez

My group decided to divide the research into the different "forks" or sequence of events that criminals must go through. I was assigned Adjudication and I found this website to be helpful.
-S. Rodriguez

A report of the Survey Research Laboratory
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
University of Illinois at Chicago
-S. Sanneh