Peer/Youth Courts

Of Current Interest

Desktop Guide Provides Key Information on Cases Handled by Youth Courts
The American Bar Association (ABA) and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) have announced the release of Youth Cases for Youth Courts: A Guide to the Typical Offenses Handled by Youth Courts (PDF). Published by the ABA with funding from OJJDP and others, this desktop guide provides community leaders with helpful information that equips them to address questions critical to the effective implementation of youth courts.

Uniting Peer/Youth Courts Statewide (9/2006)
CFCC’s Collaborative Justice team hosted the first annual California Statewide Youth Summit on the campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz on August 7, 8, and 9. The summit was attended by 60 youth and 50 adults. At the Summit, peer/youth court participants and staff networked and shared ideas about their respective court programs, and promising practices. In addition, participants identified strategies that will be incorporated into the peer/youth court DUI prevention curriculum, which is being developed by the AOC for use in peer/youth courts statewide as part of a project funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).

San Diego Teen Court Overview (10/2005) (DOC, 1,173 KB)
Recent article highlights the San Diego Teen Court, its history, evaluation and outcome.

Youth Courts Run by Behavioral Health Programs More Effective in Addressing Underlying Issues (11/2004) (PDF, 524 KB)
Recent article highlights the work of the Santa Barbara Teen Court Program and the success of similar programs at combating addiction and mental health issues.

Getting the Lowdown on Youth/Peer Courts
Court leaders discussed opportunities and challenges of running youth/peer courts during a workshop entitled "Youth/Peer Courts: Rural, Urban and National Perspectives" held at the Juvenile Centennial Conference on December 5 in Hollywood. Youth/Peer Courts, also called teen courts, are emerging as a promising mechanism for holding juvenile offenders accountable and for promoting avenues to positive development. For a national perspective on the variety and proliferation of youth/peer court models around the country and for information on national evaluations, contact the National Youth Court Center .

What are Peer/Youth Courts?

Peer court, also known as youth or teen court, is an alternative approach to the traditional juvenile justice system. A youth charged with an offense opts to forgo the hearing and sentencing procedures of the juvenile courts and agrees to a sentencing forum with a jury of the youth's peers. Youth court is under the supervision of a judge, and youth defendants and volunteers play a variety of judicial roles, such as district attorney or public defender. Youth courts are youth focused and youth driven and are designed and operated to empower youth.

The target population is teenagers arrested on misdemeanor charges and even minor felonies-anything from graffiti writing to small-time drug sales. These courts usually handle nonviolent first-time defendants accused of shoplifting, vandalism, starting schoolyard fights, and committing crimes unlikely to be prosecuted otherwise.

According to statistics from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), there are over 650 youth courts nationwide, compared with 50 in 1991. Differences exist in the design and operation of youth court programs. Some are based on the juvenile justice system, others are community based, and still others are school based. Most programs serve a sentencing function only (the juvenile offender is required to admit guilt or agree not to contest charges).

For in-depth information on youth court operations, three National Youth Court Center (NYCC) publications are suggested, as follows: (1) the Daily Operations Handbook, (2) the National Youth Court Guidelines (funded by OJJDP, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education), and (3) Peer Justice and Youth Empowerment: An Implementation Guide for Teen Court Programs.

Other agencies involved in developing materials and providing information and guidelines for youth courts as follows:

• The American Bar Association's Division for Public Education provides a comprehensive national information clearinghouse for public education about law for school-based projects.
• Street Law (in Washington, D.C.) develops community-service education lessons for teen courts.
• The Constitutional Rights Foundation (in partnership with OJJDP, NYCC, and APPA) is developing a youth court community-service learning manual. The manual will provide youth court program coordinators with (1) methods of planning and implementing group community-service learning projects to be used as sentencing options and (2) a set of project suggestions to meet a variety of sentencing and learning needs. This publication will be field tested, revised, printed, and disseminated to youth courts nationwide.

The Collaborative Justice Courts Advisory Committee has initiated projects to evaluate youth courts, with an emphasis on identifying locally generated promising practices and providing grant programs that include funding for peer/youth courts. The committee also supports education/outreach projects, such as the Peer/Teen Court Symposium coordinated by the Center for Families, Children & the Courts in October 2001.

Resources

National Youth Court Center

Placer County Peer Court