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Juvenile Division
The Juvenile Division handles cases involving minors who are charged with a crime or whose health and safety are at risk. Some common examples of these types of cases are truancy, termination of parental rights, child abuse, and felony or misdemeanor offenses where the minor is charged with committing a crime. To protect the privacy of children, juvenile cases are not open to the public.
The driving philosophy behind juvenile justice in Illinois is restorative justice. The philosophy of restorative justice holds that, along with the rehabilitation of the offender, the offender will work to "restore" the balance that existed in the community before the offense was committed. Common methods of restoration include compensating victims for their losses and public service for the offender.