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Our History


The Illinois Juvenile Defender Resource Center was created by the Illinois General Assembly to support the work of attorneys representing youth in delinquency and criminal court and to study and implement model systems for the delivery of juvenile defender services in Illinois. (725 ILCS 105/10(c)(6)) The Center is a division of the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender, and opened in September 2018.
 
The Center provides defender-driven support for attorneys representing youth in conflict with the law, including cost-free, comprehensive continuing legal education programs; an attorney support hotline; research assistance; case law and legislative updates; and connections to expert witnesses, social workers, and investigators. The Center’s website contains the latest information of interest to juvenile defenders, as well as access to a members-only Illinois juvenile defender list-serve, a motions and documents bank, and juvenile practitioner’s notebooks.