Process
Status Items Output None Questions None Claims None Highlights Done See section below
Highlights
id546024701
when minors are arrested on first offenses (misdemeanors and low-level felonies), usually vandalism, shoplifting, drug possession, fighting, etc., they are given the option to avoid the ordinary juvenile court system and instead go through the teen court process.
id544355365
it gets kids out of the awful ordinary juvenile punishment system, and does not use detention as a remedy. It’s a diversionary program that will wipe their record clean if they complete it. It doesn’t administer harsh punishments.
id544354786
The sentences kids are given are real, but they’re the kind of thing an anti-carceral type should consider the correct response to harm and wrongdoing. Community service hours are precisely what people should have to do. But the jury duties are also a great idea. They mean that teenagers who enter the process aren’t just being judged by a jury of “goody two shoes” types. They’re making their case to a group of people who have committed offenses themselves.
id544355078
It’s a jury of actual peers and its sentences are reasonable but not negligible.
id544355771
how literally “empowering” they are for young people. They allow teenagers to be attorneys, jurors, and even judges in real cases. I think this sends a powerful message.
id544356159
I’ve spent more time thinking about how we can devise practical alternatives to cruel and dysfunctional systems. Teen Court seems to me to be a humble example of something that is “quietly radical.” It deals with antisocial behavior without harsh punishment and in a way that sends offenders the message that society believes in their capacity for civic engagement.