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##  Youth Courts in Law-Related Education. ERIC Digest.                          

Youth courts, which comprise teen courts, peer juries, peer courts,             student courts, and other courts wherein juveniles sentence juvenile            respondents, have rapidly gained popularity.  In 1991 there were                over 50 youth courts in 14 states; by 2002, the number of youth                 courts grew to more than 850 in 46 states and the District of                   Columbia.  This Digest discusses (1) types and functions of youth               courts, (2) the relationship of youth courts to law-related                     education, (3) student courts in schools, (4) educational effects of            youth courts, and (5) the National Youth Court Center. TYPES AND              FUNCTIONS OF YOUTH COURTS.Youth courts involve juveniles in the             sentencing of other juveniles, in either a school or a community                setting.  Young people usually serve as jurors and may also fill the            roles of prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, judge, bailiff, or             other officers of the court.  Respondents usually are referred to a             youth court for sentencing, not for a judgment of guilt or                      innocence.  Many youth courts accept only first-time respondents who            have committed relatively minor offenses such as theft, alcohol/drug            offenses, vandalism, and disorderly conduct (Godwin                             1998). 
Respondents voluntarily choose youth court, with parental              approval, as an alternative to an existent sentencing agency or                 disciplinary office. Respondents who prefer legal representation or             the regular court (or disciplinary system) can decline referral to              youth courts. 
Youth court sentences commonly include community                service, apology to the victim, written statements, jury duty, and              drug/alcohol class. Additional sentencing options include monetary              restitution, victim-awareness classes, and driving/traffic classes.             According to the National Youth Court Center, 27.3 percent of youth             courts are administered by private nonprofit agencies, 17.5 percent             are administered by law enforcement agencies, 15 percent are                    administered by juvenile/municipal court, 12.6 percent are                      administered by juvenile probation, 8.28 percent are administered by            city governments, 4.89 percent are administered by schools, 4.7                 percent are administered by county governments, and 0.56 percent are            administered by district/county attorney offices. 
The American                Probation and Parole Association (Godwin 1998) identified four                  distinct teen court program models: the Peer Jury Model, the Adult              Judge Model, the Youth Judge Model, and the Youth Tribunal Model.               The Peer Jury Model employs a panel of teen jurors who directly                 question the respondent.  No defense or prosecuting attorney is                 employed. The judge or presiding juror can be an adult or youth                 volunteer.  The most common of the youth court models is the Adult              Judge Model, which employs an adult judge to rule on courtroom                  procedure and clarify legal terminology and youth volunteers as                 defense and prosecuting attorneys and jurors.  Young people may also            serve as bailiff and clerk.  The Youth Judge Model is similar to the            Adult Judge Model, except that a juvenile serves as judge, usually              after service as a youth court attorney. Finally, the Youth Tribunal            Model has no peer jury.  Instead, the prosecuting and defense                   attorneys present cases to a panel of three youth judges, who                   determine the sentence. RELATIONSHIP TO LAW-RELATED                           EDUCATION (LRE).Youth courts and law-related education share                many goals. The Law-Related Education Act of 1978 defined LRE                   as "Education to equip non-lawyers with knowledge and skills                    pertaining to the law, the legal process, the legal system, and the             fundamental principles and values on which these are based."  Youth             courts do the same. Each youth court case teaches both the student              volunteers and the respondents about the rules or laws that were                broken, the consequences of the offenses, and how due process is                observed by court procedure.  In addition, the volunteers and                   respondents learn about key LRE concepts of justice, power,                     equality, property, and liberty. 
Youth courts also help foster                important values, attitudes, and beliefs similar to those of LRE.               Participants voluntarily commit their time to youth courts in the               pursuit of justice.  Student volunteers demonstrate a belief in                 active and responsible participation in civic life, a respect for               the rights of the respondent and victim, and an appreciation for a              legitimate response to societal conflicts through assigning                     appropriate responses to the offenses in question. 
Youth courts               also offer a uniquely experiential approach to LRE. Participants are            real respondents in real situations, and volunteers must therefore              learn the discipline of confidentiality.  Youth court participants              must weigh conflicting points of view and decide a just and                     appropriate sentence.  They see first-hand the consequences of                  delinquent behavior. STUDENT COURTS IN SCHOOLS.Youth courts               that handle only school referrals are receiving increasing attention            from educators who are looking for ways to improve students'                    citizenship skills and decrease problematic behavior.  Some youth               courts meet in schools, but accept referrals from organizations in              the community such as the county probation department, juvenile                 court, police department or sheriff's office.  More often, student              courts accept referrals only from within the school.  Of course,                student courts pose special challenges because of the complexity of             creating new programs in schools. 
Some student courts handle only             limited types of offenses.  One student court handles only traffic              offenses on the school grounds, such as parking lot violations.                 Other student courts handle only truancy and smoking violations.                Still others address a wide variety of offenses including                       insubordination, minor theft of student property, minor vandalism,              fighting, cheating, and loitering. 
Student courts' memberships                vary greatly from school to school.  For instance, members of the               jury may be drawn from applicants throughout the student population             by random selection among students in study hall or from among                  trained student court members.  Likewise, student courts employing              students as judges or peer jurors may draw from applicants as                   diverse as the student body, or they may use only the students                  specially trained as court officers either as an extracurricular                activity or as members of a law class meeting throughout the                    semester. EDUCATIONAL EFFECTS OF YOUTH COURTS.Youth court                 advocates generally agree that their most important goals are                   educating young participants about the judicial process, having a               positive impact on participants' social competence, providing                   victims with apologies and/or restitution, and providing service to             the community. Additional goals are preventing recidivism (repeat               offenses) and influencing young people to resist the temptation to              become delinquent. 
Evaluations conducted in the 1990s found a                 decrease in recidivism for respondents who had participated in youth            court (Hissong 1991), a positive modification of behavior for both              respondents and volunteers (North Carolina Administrative Office of             the Courts 1995), and gains in students test scores on knowledge of             law and government (Wells and Minor 1997). 
In 1998 the U.S. Office            of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded a grant to               the Urban Institute to conduct a national evaluation of youth                   courts.  The Evaluation of Teen Court Project began with a national             survey of youth courts followed by an evaluation of youth courts in             Anchorage, Alaska; Tempe, Arizona; Rockville, Maryland; and                     Independence, Missouri.  The project collected data, including                  recidivism rates, on the youth court participants and a comparison              group of youth handled using traditional juvenile court                         procedures (Butts and Buck 2000). This evaluation project revealed              generally positive results regarding the effects of youth courts on             participants.  The findings are available at                                    http://www.jbutts.com/projects/teencourts.htm. NATIONAL YOUTH                 COURT CENTER.In 1999 the OJJDP established the National Youth               Court Center at the American Probation and Parole Association in                Lexington, Kentucky.  The Center provides training, technical                   assistance, and resource materials to youth courts.  In addition,               the Center maintains an extensive Web site                                      http://www.youthcourt.net/, manages an information clearinghouse,               holds national youth court conferences, and publishes a newsletter              and other informational materials such as the NATIONAL YOUTH COURT              GUIDELINES. REFERENCES AND ERIC RESOURCES.The following list              of resources includes references used to prepare this Digest.  The              items followed by an ED number are available in microfiche and/or               paper copies from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). For            information about prices, contact EDRS, 7420 Fullerton Road, Suite              110, Springfield, Virginia 22153-2852; telephone numbers are (703)              440-1400 and (800) 443-3742.  Entries followed by an EJ number,                 annotated monthly in CURRENT INDEX TO JOURNALS IN EDUCATION (CIJE),             are not available through EDRS.  However, they can be located in the            journal section of most larger libraries by using the bibliographic             information provided, requested through Interlibrary Loan, or                   ordered from commercial reprint services. 
American Bar Association            Division for Public Education.  YOUTH COURT VOLUNTEER TRAINING                  PACKAGE.  Chicago: American Bar Association, 2001. 
American Bar               Association Special Committee on Youth Education for                            Citizenship. "The Essentials of Law-Related Education."  In Robert              S. Leming and James Downey, Eds., RESOURCES ON LAW-RELATED                      EDUCATION. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social                       Studies/Social Science Education, 1995.  ED 388 534. 
Butts,                   Jeffrey A., and Janeen Buck.  "Teen Courts: A Focus on Research."               OJJDP JUVENILE JUSTICE BULLETIN (October 2000).  Washington, DC:                U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and                      Delinquency Prevention, 2000. 
Fisher, Margaret.  ROADMAPS. YOUTH              COURTS: YOUNG PEOPLE DELIVERING JUSTICE. Chicago: American Bar                  Association Office of Justice Initiatives, 2002. 
Godwin, Tracy M.             PEER JUSTICE AND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT: AN IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE FOR TEEN            COURT PROGRAMS.  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office             of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1998. 
Heward,                 Michelle E.  "Youth Court: An Alternative to Juvenile Court?" UPDATE            ON LAW-RELATED EDUCATION 23 (Winter 1999-2000): 34-36.  EJ 604                  129. 
Hissong, Rod. "Teen Court -- Is It an Effective Alternative              to Traditional Sanctions?"  JOURNAL FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE AND                    DETENTION SERVICES 6 (Fall 1991): 14-23. 
Nessel, Paula A.  YOUTH              COURT: A NATIONAL MOVEMENT. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE BULLETIN NO. 17.               Chicago: American Bar Association Division for Public Education,                2000. 
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's                 Research Division.  OJJDP RESEARCH 2000 REPORT.  Rockville, MD:                 Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse, 2001.  ED 454 350. 
REPORT ON THE              TEEN COURT PROGRAMS IN NORTH CAROLINA. Raleigh: North Carolina                  Administrative Office of the Courts, 1995. 
Vickers, Mistene.                  NATIONAL YOUTH COURT CENTER. OJJDP FACT SHEET. Washington, DC: U.S.             Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency               Prevention, May 2000. 
Wells, James B., and Kevin I. Minor.                    KENTUCKY'S YOUTH COURT INITIATIVE: AN ASSESSMENT.  Prepared for                 Kentucky Court of Justice, Administrative Office of the Courts,                 Frankfort, KY, 1997. 
Wheeler, John.  "Teen Courts in School:                  Teaching Responsibility, Justice, and Authority."  UPDATE ON                    LAW-RELATED EDUCATION 19 (Spring 1995): 36-39.  EJ 504                          135. 
Williamson, Deborah, and Paul Knepper.  "Teen Courts and                 Violence Prevention." UPDATE ON LAW-RELATED EDUCATION 19 (Spring                1995): 33-35. EJ 504 134. 
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Paula Nessel is Communications              Manager for the American Bar Association Office of Justice                      Initiatives. 
This project has been funded at least in part with               Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education under contract              number ED-99-CO-0016.  The content of this publication does not                 necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of             Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or              organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.  ERIC                   Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced and               disseminated.                                                                **Title:** Youth Courts in Law-Related Education. ERIC Digest.                          **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, 2805            East Tenth Street, Suite 120, Bloomington, IN, 47408. Tel:                      800-266-3815 (Toll Free); Fax: 812-855-0455; e-mail:                            [email protected]. For full text: http://ericso.indiana.edu/.               **Descriptors:** Childrens Rights, Citizenship Education, Civics,  Court Role,                   Educational Benefits,  Law Related Education, Secondary Education,              Social Studies, Student Rights,  Youth Problems                              **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests, Teen Courts                                                    
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