Illinois law bans schools from fining students. So local police are doing it for them, issuing thousands of tickets a year for truancy, vaping, fights and other misconduct. Children are then thrown into a legal system designed for adults.

The 15-year-old girl had been sent to a juvenile facility amid the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-May for violating her probation when she didn’t do her online schoolwork. She was on probation for charges last year of assault against her mother and theft of a classmate’s cellphone.