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The chief judge over the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center in rural southern Illinois abruptly moved to close it as of Dec. 31, citing staffing shortages that made it difficult to meet new state standards governing the treatment of youth in custody.
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In Missouri, the state’s Children’s Division is responsible for investigating abuse and neglect claims made through the state’s hotline.
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State audits point to troubling conditions in juvenile detention centers, but no agency has strong enough oversight to bring about change.
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At 18, Bobby Bostic was sentenced to 241 years in prison. Now out on parole, he’s sharing the healing power of writing in juvenile detention centers.
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Bobby Bostic walked out of a Missouri prison in November. His freedom is roughly two centuries ahead of schedule.
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Michael Politte was a teenager when he was convicted of murdering his mother, Rita. He has long insisted he did not do it.
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Linda Dickerson-Bell said she believes Michael Politte is innocent of the murder of his mother, Rita Politte.
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Michael Politte is serving a life sentence after a jury found he murdered his mother, Rita Politte, as a 14-year-old in Washington County, Missouri. On this special edition of "St. Louis on the Air," attorneys for the Midwest Innocence Project and the MacArthur Justice Center explain why he’s not guilty — and what investigators got wrong.
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A class-action lawsuit changing how Missouri handles parole hearings has meant new hope for 98 Missouri men sentenced to life without parole for crimes they committed as juveniles. "St. Louis on the Air" talked to several men who have been released after decades behind bars.
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Earlier this month, when Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton announced a plan to overhaul the state’s juvenile justice system, she repeatedly used a word that stood out to ProPublica reporter Duaa Eldeib: "love." In this interview, Eldeib talks about her reporting on Illinois’ plan and how it may have been influenced by what’s known as the Missouri Model.