The 1985 revision of the Illinois Juvenile Court Act and sections of the criminal code increased penalties for assaults on school employees and for the unlawful use or possession of weapons in school or on school grounds. A challenge to the 1985 law took place in the case of People of Illinois v. M.A., a minor. The trial court found no rational basis for automatically transferring 15- and 16-year-olds charged with unlawful weapons use on school grounds from juvenile court to criminal court. However, the Illinois Supreme Court rejected the fourteenth amendment challenges to the law and held the automatic transfer provision to be valid, thus reversing the decision of the trial court. Footnotes.