Juanita Archuleta (’01) joined the Board of Directors for the Illinois Association of Problem-Solving Courts (ILAPSC). The mission of ILAPSC is “to promote Problem-Solving Courts in Illinois by providing education, assistance, training and development through collaboration of behavioral health and justice systems.” Problem-solving courts are comprised of teams of specially trained judges, attorneys, probation officers, coordinators, and clinical specialists who provide wrap-around services and intensive monitoring of defendants who are in the criminal justice system as a result of substance abuse, mental health, or co-occurring disorders.
Juanita has been an assistant public defender in Kane County, Illinois since 2003. She has represented defendants in all types of criminal cases from traffic to felonies and parents whose children were alleged to be abused or neglected. She became the Chief of Specialty Courts for the Public Defender’s Office in 2016. Juanita currently represents all participants in the county’s Drug Rehabilitation Court, Veterans Treatment Court and Treatment Alternative Court, also known as mental health court.
As a member of the Kane County Bar Association (KCBA), Juanita is active in the Women in Law, Criminal Law and Elder Care, Disability and Mental Health committees. She authored articles for the KCBA Bar Briefs and the Illinois State Bar Association Mental Health Matters newsletter. Juanita is a yearly mentor for first year law students through the NIU College of Law 1L Mentor Program and has supervised interns and 711 students. She says that a highlight of her legal career was being sworn into the United States Supreme Court Bar in 2019 and meeting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
