Chicago City Wire

A bill aimed at making certain that child protection cases transferred between counties are heard in a timely manner is now making the rounds in the Illinois Senate.

Sponsored by state Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago) Senate 651 has been assigned to the Subcommittee on Children & Family.

During a recent hearing, witness Elise Melrose, an attorney with the Office of Cook County Public Guardian, told lawmakers there is no timeline for when such cases are transferred.

Melrose added theoretically 'cases could sit for months at a time' with no movement as the question of who holds jurisdiction remains unsettled.

State Sen. Terri  Bryant (R-Murphysboro) was among those on hand for the hearing and at one point asked, “Was there an amendment to this bill or will there be one where the county clerks wanted a little more time than what was in the initial bill?”

Melrose responded that this was proposed last year and her office worked with the county clerks to make sure the timelines worked with them.

The last year has been a time like no other in the Cook County court system as the COVID-19 crisis has brought the system to a complete crawl.

With chaos showing little sign of letting up any time soon, the Illinois State Bar Association has warned that unless juvenile cases are promptly handled, crime is certain to escalate across the state.

In its Juvenile Justice In Illinois report, the association said, “The downside is likely to be an increased crime rate as these youth grow older, greater constraints on limited state resources for adult incarceration expenses, higher insurance rates and other costs of heightened crime. Family structures are adversely affected; neighborhoods become besieged with greater truancy and discord, ultimately leading to a lack of a trained, stable workforce. This all results in adverse economic, safety and health outcomes for all our communities.”