Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project

The goals of the Project include: providing quality legal representation to juveniles accused of crime; expanding the concept of legal representation to address the social, psychological, medical and educational needs of our clients (including developing sentencing alternatives to incarceration); exposing our students to public service careers; teaching our students to apply and critically examine legal theory; improving the system of justice in the juvenile and adult criminal court; and developing policies and implementing strategies for effective crime prevention.

For the most part, our clients live on Chicago's South Side, range in age from fourteen to eighteen and are supported by Aid to Families with Dependent Children andor low wage earning parents and guardians. We have accepted older clients and some from other areas of the city. The Project has developed an active caseload in the Juvenile and Criminal courts of Cook County and the state appellate court. The Project meets regularly for group case conferences, case preparation and to discuss ethical issues and recent legal developments. Individual student-teacher conferences are frequent. Second year students new to the Project are teamed with returning third year students to foster collaboration and to ensure continuity in representation.

The Clinic social worker and social work students are actively involved in many of our cases. A Project manual, revised each year and containing relevant readings, case law and statutes, is provided to each student.

Project faculty: Randolph N. Stone and Herschella G. Conyers