Betsy Clarke

SPEAKER | LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF ILLINOIS, ISSUES BRIEFING 2023

Elizabeth “Betsy” Clarke, J.D., is the founder, immediate past president and board treasurer of the Juvenile Justice Initiative (JJI), a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring equality and human rights for all children and young adults in conflict with the law.  JJI has raised the age of juvenile court from 17 to 18, ended automatic adult prosecution for 15 year-olds, required lawyers during interrogation for children under the age of 15, reduced detention of children under the age of 13, reduced incarceration by two-thirds and closed three juvenile prisons. JJI promotes alternatives to deprivation of liberty and was instrumental in the development of Redeploy Illinois, a program of fiscal incentives to counties to create/expand community alternatives to reduce juvenile incarceration.

In addition to JJI, Clarke co-founded the Midwest Juvenile Defender Center, and the North American Juvenile Justice Network, and was a founding member of the National Juvenile Justice Network.  She is a frequent speaker and author, including Disrupting Injustice:  Fifty Years Post Miranda and Gault: A Call to Action to Re-Examine the Rights of Children in Conflict with the Law, 62 S.D.L.Rev. 608 (Issue 3, 2017), and “Restorative Justice Lessons from around the World”, in Readings in Restorative Justice, Vandeplas Publishing, LLC, July 2021.

Prior to the Juvenile Justice Initiative, Clarke served as attorney and policy advocate in both the Office of the Cook County Public Defender and the Office of the State Appellate Defender.