Survivors' lawyers say Illinois has one of nation's worst records on sex abuse in juvenile detention

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois has one of the nation’s worst problems with child sex abuse at juvenile detention centers, attorneys representing more than 900 survivors who have filed lawsuits said Wednesday.

Dozens of complaints, including several filed this week in Chicago, allege decades of systemic abuse of children by the employees of detention facilities. Similar lawsuits have popped up in states including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, but Illinois stands out for the volume of cases that began piling up last year and the lackluster response from state leaders, according to attorneys.

“The scale and the magnitude and the severity of these cases are some of the worst we’ve seen all over the United States,” Jerome Block, an attorney who has filed lawsuits nationwide, said at a news conference.

The latest Illinois complaints, filed Tuesday, represent 107 people who experienced abuse as children at 10 centers statewide. Some have since closed. The lawsuits allege abuse from the mid-1990s to 2018, including rape, forced masturbation and beatings by chaplains, counselors, officers and kitchen supervisors.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they consent to being identified or decide to tell their stories publicly, as some who have filed lawsuits have done. Most plaintiffs are identified by initials in the lawsuits.

Survivor Kate-Lynn, who appeared at a Chicago news conference, said she only felt comfortable speaking publicly using her first name. The Illinois woman, now 26, said she was held in solitary confinement at a suburban Chicago facility for a year when she was 14. She said she was sexually and physically abused by at least five staff members who came into her cell and stripped her naked.

As she spoke, a fellow survivor who also planned to speak became overcome with emotion and left the room. He didn't return.

Kate-Lynn said she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

“Going to public places is very hard for me,” she said, wiping tears at times. “I feel like I 'm going to be attacked when dealing with authority figures."

The lawsuits, first filed in May 2024, and they are slowly making their way through the courts.

Two lawsuits against the state — representing 83 people — were filed in the Illinois Court of Claims and seek damages of roughly $2 million per plaintiff, the most allowed under law. Separate lawsuits representing 24 people held as children at a Chicago center, were filed in Cook County and seek more than $100,000 per plaintiff.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who represents the state, has tried to dismiss the cases in court.

Raoul, whose office has investigated church sex abuse cases, declined to comment Wednesday as did officials with the Department of Juvenile Justice and Cook County. The lawsuits also name the state of Illinois and the Department of Corrections. Officials for the governor's office and Corrections did not return messages Wednesday.

While the number of lawsuits grows, few cases have gone to trial or resulted in settlements. Arrests are infrequent.

Many alleged offenders are not named in the lawsuits, represented by initials or physical descriptions as the plaintiffs remembered them. There are several alleged repeat offenders, including a corrections officer who currently serves as a small-town Illinois mayor and was accused separately by 15 people. He has denied the allegations.

Attorneys have called for legislative hearings, outside monitors, victim input and criminal charges by local authorities. Block has also harshly criticized Illinois leaders, including Raoul, saying there is a double standard for the abuse victims juvenile detention centers versus church abuse victims.

“When it's the state who perpetrated the abuse, when it's state employees who perpetrated the abuse rather than Catholic priests, the attorney general doesn't want to support the survivors,” he said.

Horrific accounts are detailed in the hundreds of pages of complaints. Many plaintiffs said their abusers threatened them with violence, solitary confinement and longer sentences if they reported the abuse. Others were given fast food, candy, cigarettes or the chance to play videos games if they kept quiet.

Another survivor, a 40-year-old Texas man identified in the lawsuit by the initials J.B. 2, said he was abused when he was 14 years old and staying a facility in St. Charles, which is outside Chicago. He issued a statement through attorneys.

“I want to let my fellow survivors know that we are not alone in this,” he wrote. “Speaking your truth, no matter how gruesome it is, it can help to set you free from yourself and all the hurt that's been bottled up.”

One of sexual assault survivor Michael Moss wipes his eyes as he listens to Jerome Block, partner, Levy & Konigsberg LLP, during a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Jerome Block, partner, Levy & Konigsberg LLP, right, talks to media as attorney Kristen Feden, 1st left, listens to him during a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

One sexual assault survivor Michael Moss, center, talks to media as Jerome Block, partner, Levy & Konigsberg LLP, left, and attorney Kristen Feden listen to him during a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

One of sexual assault survivor Kate-Lynn (first name only), cries as she talks to media during a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

One of sexual assault survivor Kate-Lynn (first name only), wipes his face after talking to media during a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in nearly a year, driving up borrowing costs for prospective homebuyers.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.55% from 6.49% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.75%.

Higher mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing power at a time when affordability challenges continue to sideline many aspiring homeowners.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

Rates have been mostly rising this year as the war with Iran has driven crude oil prices sharply higher, stoking expectations of hotter inflation. That's pushed up long-term bond yields relative to where they were before the conflict began in late February, causing mortgage rates to trend higher.

The 10-year Treasury yield was 4.57% at midday Thursday on the bond market, up from 4.54% a week ago. It was just 3.97% in late February, before the war broke out.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now the highest it's been since Aug. 28, when it was at 6.56%. As recently as late February, the average rate dropped slightly below 6% for the first time since late 2022.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week. That average rate increased to 5.93% from 5.82% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.92%, Freddie Mac said.

A report this week showing prices paid by consumers for gas, clothes and other goods cooled last month could help take pressure off the Federal Reserve, which is considering raising interest rates.

The central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, but its decisions to raise or lower its short-term rate are watched closely by bond investors and can ultimately affect the yield on 10-year Treasurys.

That cooler inflation reading “is a step in the right direction, but until mortgage rates actually follow suit, buyers will keep feeling the pinch of stubbornly high borrowing costs even as other conditions improve,” said Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com.

While average long-term mortgage rates remain lower than they were at this time last year, their upward trajectory has weighed on home sales this year.

And the latest monthly tally of home purchase transactions that have yet to be finalized points to potentially more sluggish home sales this summer.

Pending U.S. home sales fell 5.4% in June from the previous months and were down 0.3% from June last year, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. There’s usually a month or two lag between a contract signing and when the sale is finalized, which makes pending home sales a near-term bellwether for the housing market.

Data on mortgage applications also signal that the upward trend in mortgage rates has given some would-be homebuyers reason to pause.

Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, fell 2.7% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The pullback was driven mainly by a 7% drop in applications to buy a home.

FILE - A sign is posted for a new home for sale in Ambler, Pa., Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)