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A bill headed to the Governor’s desk reforms the way minors are sentenced for a crime in Illinois.

The measure is designed to help victims of child sex trafficking and others, requiring judges to consider additional factors when issuing  sentence.  It’s sponsored by Senator Mike Simmons of Chicago.

“It adds another layer of compassion to our court system so our young people, who are disproportionately women, don’t end up serving long pointless sentences for scenarios that they a lot of times didn’t bring on themselves.”

But opponents, like Senator Steve McClure of Springfield, say this will let some criminals off easy.

“The crimes that we are talking about, where person is being transferred to adult courts, these are not retail thefts.  These are not minor crimes.  They are the worst of the worst.”

Under the legislation, a judge will have to take into account whether the minor has been in the welfare system or has come from a home with domestic violence.  Any mental health evaluations would be considered as well.

The bill still needs to be signed into law by the Governor.