TRIGGER WARNING: This story and its sources include some graphic discussion of sexual assault.
Juvenile detention centers across the state are facing lawsuits for decades of sexual abuse. We need to talk about it.
Illinois is one of multiple states where sexual assault allegations at juvenile facilities have been arising, but Illinois is an outlier for the magnitude of allegations it’s receiving, according to NBC Chicago.
The allegations have been developing since May, when the first lawsuits were filed, and the incidents of abuse have been reported as occurring as early as 1996 and as late as 2021.
As of Sept. 25, 667 victims have come forward about being sexually assaulted as children in youth facilities run by the state and Cook County.
Some allegations include descriptions of sexual assault against children by facility staff and faculty, including rape, groping and unjustified strip searches, maintained over time through various manipulative and coercive behaviors.
Other states’ previous allegations and lawsuits have seen little justice so far.
For decades, America has failed to protect the children it incarcerates.
Most people are familiar with the long list of issues in American prisons and incarceration systems, including racial disparities and discrimination, poor health conditions, overcrowding and abuse.
Incarcerated minors clearly aren’t escaping those issues either.
But despite the American public’s increasingly negative perceptions toward incarcerating children, the United States still leads the globe for both the number of adults and children it incarcerates.
As the U.S. is the only member of the United Nations that has not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Human Rights Watch graded the 50 states for their success in protecting children’s rights.
Illinois received a D, losing several points for the treatment of its juvenile inmates.
There are policies in place to protect juvenile inmates in Illinois, such as the Prison Rape Elimination Act, but the emerging allegations should make it clear the necessary reform is far from achieved.
The very least a detention center can do is protect the children it keeps, ensuring its inmates are safe and its staff is not predatory.
Abuse destroys lives faster than policies are approved.
That means protecting children in juvenile detention centers needs to go beyond being faintly aware of the issue. It needs to enter our civic advocacy, and it needs to be a factor we consider when we vote.
This is not a new conversation, but it is an urgent and neglected one. As allegations continue to emerge, the Illinoisan public needs to remain supportive of the victims its state ignored.
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