SPRINGFIELD - Keeping young drug offenders in the juvenile court system instead of automatically transferring them to adult court helps them move on to productive lives, a report released Thursday suggests.

In 2005, lawmakers changed state law so fewer 15- and 16-year-olds accused of some drug charges would be automatically transferred to adult courts, a practice that occurred almost exclusively in Cook County.

The report released Thursday by the state Juvenile Justice Initiative suggests the change to lessen transfers better allows young offenders to rehabilitate and doesn't cause public safety problems.

"Reforming these laws can be done with keeping these communities safe," said Betsy Clarke, president of the Juvenile Justice Initiative.

Before 2005, the law called for young people arrested on drug charges near a school or public housing project to be immediately transferred to adult court without any review by a judge. About 99 percent of them were minorities, making the old process highly discriminatory, the report's authors said.

Even though the law to transfer young drug offenders was in place statewide, the vast majority were in Cook County.

"There are no easy answers for this," Clarke said.

Mike Riopell can be reached at mike.riopell@lee.net or 789-0865.