Youth Court Movement Advances

The National Association of Youth Courts has been launched to deliver support and training to the nation’s 1,100-plus youth courts.

By Martin W.G. King, NCPC Staff

The national youth court movement has been boosted with the launch of the National Association of Youth Courts (NAYC) in December 2007. With its headquarters in Baltimore, MD, the new organization will deliver support and technical assistance to the hundreds of youth courts that operate across the country.

 
Youth courts are often alternatives to the judicial system for first-time offenders, although many handle school infractions and lesser offenses. All feature some type of trial by peer attorneys, judges, juries, bailiffs, and so on. Occasionally, adults will play one or more of these roles or guide the process.

The new organization has been sponsored with significant funding for its first year by four federal agencies—the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Programs (OJJDP), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, and the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families.

 
The launch of NAYC is one more step along the way in the advancement of youth courts. In 1994, the nation counted only 78 youth courts; by 2006, 1,127 youth courts operated in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Only Connecticut had no youth courts.

 
How do youth courts work? There are many ways, but, in one typical model, a youth must first admit guilt before he or she can participate in the program. Then the youth court determines the sentence in a hearing. Under another model, if the youth pleads innocent, then a full-fledged trial by the youth’s peers ensues. According to the OJJDP, youth courts are unique to their communities, but all share the same three guiding principles 

• Holding youth accountable for their problem behavior
• Educating youth about the legal and judicial systems
• Empowering youth to be active in helping their communities solve problems

The overarching goal is not to penalize defendants, but to rehabilitate them, instill in them a sense of citizenship and community, and provide a restorative measure to those who have suffered because of their actions.
 

According to statistics released in 2006 by the National Youth Court Database, the top ten offenses that youth courts nationwide dealt with were theft (91 percent); vandalism (76 percent); alcohol-related problems (73 percent); disorderly conduct (73 percent); assault (67 percent); possession of marijuana (60 percent); use of tobacco (59 percent); curfew violations (50 percent); school discipline (45 percent); and traffic violations (39 percent).

 
The database also reported that the ten most frequent sentences were community service (99 percent); oral or written apologies (94 percent); essays (92 percent); educational workshops (73 percent); peer-court jury duty (73 percent); restitution (61 percent); alcohol or drug assessment (57 percent); curfew (46 percent); tutoring (37 percent); and counseling (37 percent).

Youth courts benefit not just defendants, but those who play judicial roles as well. Adedayo Banwo, who rose from the projects of St. Petersburg, FL, to attend Cambridge University and then Duke University School of Law—all by the dint of hard work and all the extra-curricular opportunities he could manage—was a youth court volunteer. According to the St. Petersburg Times, he credits his youth court experience for the inspiration to climb out of poverty. It also crystallized his interest in the law.

    
Youth courts also have financial benefits. In Person County, NC, Wells King was named volunteer of the year by the Person County Cooperative Extension Service for his work with the local teen courts, which the Extension Service supervises. Praising the youth court system, King told the Courier-Times newspaper how the volunteers save the taxpayers’ money. “They’re staff you don’t have to pay,” he said.

Resources
American Youth Policy Forum, www.aypf.org/forumbriefs/2001/fb120301.htm

 
California Collaborative Justice Programs, Peer Courts,
 www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/collab/peeryouth.htm   

    
National Association of Youth Courts, www.youthcourt.net
 

OJJDP: News @ a Glance, November–December, 2007,
www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/news_at_glance/220298/sf_3.html

 
Youth Cases for Youth Courts: Desktop Guide,
 www.aypf.org/forumbriefs/2001/fb120301.htm

 
Youth Courts: Young People Delivering Justice,
www.aypf.org/forumbriefs/2001/fb120301.htm