Mt. Vernon attorney George W. Timberlake, retired chief judge of the 2nd Circuit, is spearheading a statewide initiative, “Models for Change,” on reform of the juvenile justice system.

Part of a national program funded at $100 million by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, an initial commitment of $60 million will seed pilot programs in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Washington.

Timberlake attended the foundation's announcement last December in Washington, D.C., as one of 20 Illinois representatives.

“It's an attempt to modify juvenile court systems to reflect studies on brain development and what has been found to work in the system,” he told a reporter for the Morning Sentinel in Centralia.

The evidence-based approach has been used in the 2nd Circuit for the past four years, he noted, with goals of bringing juvenile offenders back into society as productive citizens and saving taxpayers' money.

Timberlake was a speaker on Dec. 7 during the ISBA Midyear Meeting seminar, “Restoring the Balance: The Legal Community's Role in Restorative Justice.”

He described balanced and restorative justice principles and discussed the successes of various programs that have been used to implement them.

A judge for two decades who has witnessed three generations of juvenile offenders, Timberlake told the seminar audience that the system does not work and needs to be changed.

The MacArthur endowment provides for three pilot sites in Illinois in addition to the 12-county 2nd Circuit. They are Ogle, DuPage and Cook Counties.

Illinois has been allotted $50,000 for each site in the first year, plus $4.5 million to continue for five more years and add 10 more network sites.

An effective governance structure, such as the 2nd Circuit's Juvenile Justice Council, must be established at each site, and data must be gathered about prior programs and trends. “You can't know where you're going until you know where you've been,” Timberlake said.

Foundation President Jonathan Fanton said that “a juvenile justice system that considers each young person as an individual, offers alternatives to incarceration for those who do not pose a threat to society, and emphasizes rehabilitative options, is sensible public policy.”

The result is that “taxpayers spend less on prisons, public safety is enhanced, and young lives are redeemed for productive contributions to society,” he added.