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Mentors sought for young adult offenders in McLean County

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WGLT
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Staff

Young adults are different from older adults. So are 18- to 25-year-olds who have committed crimes. Over the last five years, the court services division in McLean County has tried to build capacity to address the specific needs of that age cohort.

In some ways, emerging adults are more like kids than they are older adults. Their brains aren't done developing. They may be more impulsive. Yet, legally, there's no difference from older adults.

There are two probation officers that specialize in dealing with young adults on probation.

"How we try to get them to model behavior, or we try to get them to comply with conditions is a little bit different than a 50-year-old, obviously. You know, kind of leading them, the cognitive work we do with them," said McLean County Court Services Director Suzanne Montoya. "We really focus heavily on education with this population and employment.”

There also is a mentoring component. Montoya said they'll take anyone who can offer advice and help to 18–25-year-olds who are trying to get their lives together, but can especially use people like the probationers themselves.

"There is a real value in having lived experience in being a mentor," she said. "We've actually been told by clients before that they need somebody they can really connect with, and who has had some experiences that they have had."

McLean County courts need more mentors for young adults on probation and will take anyone, though those with that lived experience cannot have offended or been incarcerated for five years before starting as a mentor, said Montoya.

The Office of the Illinois Courts has given a "Swift, Certain and Fair" Justice Department grant to McLean County for the next three years to expand therapy, counselling, and mental health needs of emerging adults. Housing transportation and some education requirement costs also can be funded, she said.

Currently, court services has about 25 mentors and 118 emerging adults on probation. They meet with the clients at least once a month for advice and help. There is webinar and workshop training for the new mentors.

Montoya said the county will be doing data analysis next year to see whether the first several years of the young adult probationer programming has reduced repeat crimes.

Eventually, she hopes the unique services for young adults evolve into a complete specialty court with dedicated defenders, prosecutors, and judges who have experience in dealing with this population. There is one such specialty court for emerging adults in Illinois, in Cook County.

Montoya said the county also wants to expand it probation mentoring program for young adults to juveniles, adding court services is exploring a partnership with Bloomington's Western Avenue Community Center for such a program.

Next spring, federal grant money could establish the program through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. That could be a $300,0000-$400,000 program, she said. Mentors would have to be vetted and undergo background checks.

WGLT Senior Reporter Charlie Schlenker has spent more than three award-winning decades in radio. He lives in Normal with his family.