Youth Court: A Community Solution for Embracing At-Risk Youth. A National Update

Youth court, also called teen court, peer jury, or student court, is an alternative to the traditional juvenile justice system and school disciplinary proceedings that empower youth and communities to take an active role in addressing the early stages of youth delinquency. The program provides communities with an opportunity to ensure immediate consequences to first-time youth offenders through a peer operated sentencing mechanism that constructively allows the offender to take responsibility, be held accountable, and make restitution for violating the law. In addition, the program offers young people in the community the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process for dealing with juvenile delinquency, while gaining "hands-on" knowledge of the juvenile and criminal justice systems. The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF), with support from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the National Youth Court Center (NYCC), managed by the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), conducted a nationwide review of youth court programs between November 2004 and January 2005. A total of 365 youth court coordinators from across the United States participated in the study. This report reflects the study findings. The report's goal is to provide policymakers and the public with an overview of youth court programs, their characteristics and benefits. Study methodology is appended. (Contains 8 figures and 30 endnotes.)