{"id":122,"date":"2018-03-01T17:16:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T17:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/?p=122"},"modified":"2023-06-22T17:58:59","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T17:58:59","slug":"explainer-automatic-transfer-of-children-to-adult-court","status":"publish","type":"legal-explainer","link":"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/legal-explainer\/explainer-automatic-transfer-of-children-to-adult-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Automatic Transfer of Children to Adult Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"wp-block-wysiwyg max-w-[800px] mx-auto lg:px-0 px-mobile\">\n        <div class=\"container\">\n            <div class=\"py-12 lg:py-20\">\n                \n                \n                                    <div class=\"wysiwyg pt-7\">\n                        <h3><span style=\"color: #213159;\"><b>What is automatic transfer?<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, <strong>children as young as 16 may be automatically transferred to adult court if they are charged<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>with certain offenses<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once in adult court, they face more punitive sentencing conventions and no longer benefit from consideration under a juvenile system that aims to provide age-appropriate, reintegration-focused treatment.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This process is also known as\u00a0statutory exclusion, named for the fact that some offenses are excluded by statute from prosecution in juvenile court.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Illinois, transfer is triggered by prosecutors, who decide charging offenses. <strong>Once charged, juveniles have no legal mechanism to prevent or contest their transfer<\/strong>. Not only that, even if found ultimately exonerated of all charges, juveniles can never return to the juvenile justice system\u00a0once transferred and sometimes even receive\u00a0adult sentences\u00a0for reduced charges that would not have been grounds for transfer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, three offenses trigger the automatic transfer of 16- and 17-year-olds to adult court. These are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First-degree murder<\/li>\n<li>Aggravated criminal sexual assault<\/li>\n<li>Aggravated battery with a firearm<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Until <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/legislation\/billstatus.asp?DocNum=3718&amp;GAID=13&amp;GA=99&amp;DocTypeID=HB&amp;LegID=89922&amp;SessionID=88\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">changes to transfer laws in 2015<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, children even younger than 16 were also eligible for automatic transfer, and for a broader array of offenses (including home invasion, armed robbery, and aggravated vehicular hijacking).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>As of June 2017, roughly eleven hundred people in Illinois prisons were serving sentences for offenses committed as children<\/strong>. More than\u00a04 in 10 of these individuals are serving sentences longer than 20 years.\u00a0Figure 1 breaks down the distribution of these sentences by age at offense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"Figure1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Figure 1. Sentence lengths to individuals serving prison terms in Illinois for offenses committed as children<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-17658 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/KM-figure-1-sentence-lengths-by-age-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1006\" height=\"441\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Caption.<\/strong>\u00a0Data were sourced from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www2.illinois.gov\/idoc\/reportsandstatistics\/Pages\/Prison-Population-Data-Sets.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IDOC\u2019s public report on prison population as of June 30, 2017<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #213159;\"><b>Why does it matter?<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Automatic transfer laws run counter to the judicial idea\u2014enshrined in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/issues-solutions\/in-the-courts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">multiple court decisions<\/a>\u2014that children are fundamentally distinct from adults and must be treated differently by our legal systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Current transfer laws in Illinois also place <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NkYcn8TZEUc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">disproportionate power<\/a> in the hands of prosecutors<\/strong>, who by the nature of their position are more incentivized to take a combative stance against defendants. In\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/civil-and-criminal-justice\/juvenile-age-of-jurisdiction-and-transfer-to-adult-court-laws.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">many other states<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, transferring children to adult court requires a deliberate decision to do so by either the court or prosecutors (in these states, prosecutors must choose to file their cases in adult court rather than letting the nature of the charging offense trigger automatic transfer).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While not a perfect system, that these states require this extra step means courts and prosecutors must at very least recognize that putting a child in an adult courtroom is a choice and not just &#8220;the way things are.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, while transfer is \u201cautomatic,\u201d it is far from impartial. <strong>A <a href=\"http:\/\/jjustice.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Automatic-Adult-Prosecution-of-Children-in-Cook-County-IL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report from the Juvenile Justice Initiative<\/a> found that of 257 children automatically transferred to adult court in Illinois between 2010 and 2012, over 80% were black.<\/strong> Only one was white.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given the prominent record of how race and racism color\u00a0the conduct of\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/01\/13\/us\/chicago-police-justice-department-report.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chicago police<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/lifestyles\/books\/ct-prj-crook-county-nicole-gonzalez-vancleve-20160427-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">court systems<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it shouldn\u2019t be hard to see why giving prosecutors the full power to control transfer decisions might contribute to racial disparities.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #213159;\"><b>Want to learn more?<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the clear and cogent analysis of automatic transfer laws in Illinois today, there is no better source than the <span style=\"color: #f04b4c;\"><span style=\"color: #3d6098;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #3d6098;\" href=\"http:\/\/jjustice.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Juvenile Justice Initiative<\/a><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">;<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>while based on data from before the 2015 law change, their<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/jjustice.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Automatic-Adult-Prosecution-of-Children-in-Cook-County-IL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> 2014 report<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> remains required reading. The <span style=\"color: #3d6098;\"><strong>National Conference of State Legislatures<\/strong><\/span> (NCSL) also has an\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/civil-and-criminal-justice\/juvenile-age-of-jurisdiction-and-transfer-to-adult-court-laws.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">excellent overview<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Linked Sources<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bosman, J., &amp; Smith, M. (2017, January 13). Chicago police routinely trampled on civil rights, Justice Dept. says. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York Times<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Retrieved from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.nytimes.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Illinois General Assembly. <em>Bill Status of HB3718, 99th General Assembly<\/em>. Retrieved from:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ilga.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.ilga.gov.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ishida, K., Clarke, E. &amp; Reed, D. (2014). \u201cAutomatic Adult Prosecution of Children in Cook County, Illinois. 2010-2012.\u201d Chicago, IL. Retrieved from <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/jjustice.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Automatic-Adult-Prosecution-of-Children-in-Cook-County-IL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/jjustice.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Automatic-Adult-Prosecution-of-Children-in-Cook-County-IL.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teigen, A. (2017, April 4).\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Juvenile Age of Jurisdiction and Transfer to Adult Court Laws<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Retrieved from <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/civil-and-criminal-justice\/juvenile-age-of-jurisdiction-and-transfer-to-adult-court-laws.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/civil-and-criminal-justice\/juvenile-age-of-jurisdiction-and-transfer-to-adult-court-laws.aspx<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Warden, R. (2016, April 27). \u2018Crook County\u2019 investigates racism in Cook County criminal court system. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Chicago Tribune<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Retrieved from <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, children as young as 16 may be automatically transferred to adult court if they are charged with certain offenses.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","custom-author":[],"class_list":["post-122","legal-explainer","type-legal-explainer","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Automatic Transfer of Children to Adult Court - Restore Justice Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/legal-explainer\/explainer-automatic-transfer-of-children-to-adult-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Automatic Transfer of Children to Adult Court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, children as young as 16 may be automatically transferred to adult court if they are charged with certain offenses.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/legal-explainer\/explainer-automatic-transfer-of-children-to-adult-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Restore Justice Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-22T17:58:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/legal-explainer\/explainer-automatic-transfer-of-children-to-adult-court\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/legal-explainer\/explainer-automatic-transfer-of-children-to-adult-court\/\",\"name\":\"Automatic Transfer of Children to Adult Court - 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