Youth Court Keeps Kids Out of the System
Pictured: Zainab Raza, law student & Youth Court intern, Danielle Johnson, law student, Caitlin Burgess, Youth Court Co-Coordinator, Karinne Hill, attorney judge, Lydia Ansermet, Youth Court Co-Coordinator, Jenna Heaphy, attorney judge, Kristen Pierce, law student
A young respondent wipes away tears as her law student advocate recounted an incident in school that resulted in a fight. The advocate was speaking to a jury of the respondent’s peers, other Hamilton County high school students.
Welcome to Youth Court, a project started by the Cincinnati Academy of Leadership for Lawyers in coordination with Hamilton County Juvenile Court. Youth Court is now supported and funded by the Cincinnati Bar Foundation’s Judge Julia A. Stautberg Justice Fund. The program is for first-time, low-level offenders and grounded in the premise that positive peer interaction is much more effective than a lecture from a parent or judge.
“The general criteria for referring cases to Youth Court is first offense misdemeanors that are non-violent,” said Youth Court Co-Coordinator Caitlin Burgess. “The respondents are at least 14 years old, since it is a peer-to-peer model, and all of our jurors are high school students. Juvenile Court staff look through the unofficial cases and flags appropriate ones our way for consideration.”
Local lawyers serve as judge; law students as prosecutors, defense counsel and bailiffs; and high school students are jurors. With the exception of an intern paid for by the University of Cincinnati, all volunteer their time. Before proceedings begin, everyone is sworn in and promises to keep the proceedings confidential.
In Court, the prosecutor presents the facts of the case and recommends a sanction. The respondent’s defense counsel responds and offers his or her client and family the opportunity to speak to the Court. After that, jurors may ask questions. When statements and questions are complete, everyone but the Judge and jurors are escorted out of the courtroom so the jury may deliberate.
“It seems like she generally regrets her actions,” says one of the jurors during deliberations. All jurors agree that a written reflection, as recommended by the prosecutor, is an appropriate sanction. Sanctions are decided from a variety of options including a reflection paper, community service, chores, and a finding of admonished, which means the jurors feel that the youth has been appropriately dealt with by his or her parents or guardians.
Respondent, attorneys and family re-enter the courtroom. The jury’s foreperson speaks, “We the jury sanction you to a written reflection on the topic of alternative methods to deal with this situation, a page in length. And we also want to say we understand that you may have felt like you had to do that but in the future it’s important to think about ways to de-escalate the situation before it gets there.”
The judge proclaims, “the jury has spoken and the sanctions are final.” The young respondent confers with her attorney on next steps and leaves Court with a sanction, but no official record. But there’s a chance that respondents may be back to Youth Court, next time as a juror, helping other kids stay out of the system.