Topic: Training Volunteers to Handle Assault Cases

Question: Do any programs have specific types of training for youth jurors and attorneys (adult judge model) concerning assault cases? We have dealt with several cases, and I believe that a key piece is missing in our pre-service and continuing training. In all our cases, the youth defendant has said that he has hit back. The youth volunteers have given the defendants (what I consider) light sentences. Several reasons for their decisions: "If someone hit me, I would hit back." "How badly was the victim hurt?" "It was obviously self-defense." Because the defendants have been the ones to hit back, some volunteers do not consider an apology letter necessary. Secondly, our program does not determine guilt or innocence. However, there are always two different versions of what happened in regards to what led up to the assault and who hit first. The victims have not taken the opportunity to testify at the hearing or submit a victim-impact statement. It has been difficult for prosecuting attorneys to illustrate the impact of the crime to the jury...in all cases, they have considered both parties as victims. How do other programs offer this important information when the victim is not present and has not submitted a statement? Thanks in advance. Any materials would be helpful.

Responses from Coordinators:

Orange County Teen Court
David Medvec
Teen Court Coordinator
2000 East Michigan
Orlando, FL 32806
Phone: (407) 836-9517
Fax: (407) 836-7599
ctaddm1@ocnjcc.org

I have implemented the reading of victim statements in assault and battery cases. If the defendant starts testifying self-defense, our judges will first warn the defendant that if he has a defense to the case it will be returned to the circuit court.

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Brown County Teen Court
Wayne Pauluk
Teen Court Coordinator
1 South State
New Ulm, MN 56073
Phone: (507) 233-6620
Fax: (507) 233-6649
wayne.pauluk@co.brown.mn.us

We rarely have assault cases. We have Victim Offender Mediation, which we use when appropriate. In situations like you describe, I believe our jurors would include VOM as part of the sentence, so it would allow both parties to try to resolve things.

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Bethel Teen Court
Bruce Steinmetz
Program Supervisor
City of Eugene
870 Berntzen Road
Eugene, OR 97402
Phone: (541) 682-6376
Fax: (541) 682-8192
bruce.h.steinmetz@ci.eugene.or.us

Good question. My current court gets a few Physical Harrassment cases in which some of the same issues arise, and I usually try to get a statement in writing from the victim. But in another state I was with a court that heard assault cases and saw that, more often than not, the defendant was able to persuade the jury that the victim was somehow asking for it. (The problem was made worse by the fact that the local youth culture put a great deal of stock in a person's obligation to prove him/herself if challenged, even vebally. And the jurors in that program were largely untrained.) It almost seems as if these cases can be fairly heard only if the victim testifies. Many courts do not have procedures that allow for this, and, if they were to add them, it would seem to open up other issues regarding cross-examination, victim discomfort, etc. My main concern is not so much that the jury comes away believing the defendant was justified, but that the defendant comes away from court with that feeling. I am interested in others' response to this, but think that these cases call for highly trained juries. Also, for trial model courts, I'm interested to know if the defense attorneys have free rein to blame the victim.

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LaPine Teen Court
Mary Fleischmann
Program Coordinator
P.O. Box 2035
La Pine, OR 97739
Phone: (541) 536-5002
Fax: (541) 536-5766
Mary_Engstrom@co.deschutes.or.us

WHEN TRAINING NEW JURORS, PART OF THE TRAINING COVERS THE ISSUE AND CONCERNS AROUND VICTIM ISSUES. I try to make sure that youth understand in their questioning how to bring up more of the issues around physical injury, precipitating factors that lead to assaults, history of the defendant in dealing with problems in an assaultive manner, and also if this is a concern at home. I do my best to get minimally a victim impact statement, but I will address the court myself if there are injuries which required medical attention, and let the court know this. The key in in the training of youth...and that in our state, the plea of "self-defense" is pretty weak...when there are other alternatives available in dealing with these kinds of issues. That is also a question that the jurors ask - "what other ways could you of dealt with this situation". I have had cases when both youth in an assault have been cited and then I have them both come before the court at the same time...interestingly enough, youth have been able to sort out who is more at fault than the other, but do hold both accountable. Again, I think it is key in covering this issue very throughly when training new youth in your court.

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City of Lewisville Teen Court
Anne Dubinsky
Teen Court Coordinator
P.O. Box 299002
Lewisville, TX 75029
Phone: (972) 219-3671
Fax: (972) 219-3414
adubinsk@cityoflewisville.com

This reply will probably not be very helpful, but we hear several assault cases each year. I have found (in general) that defendants are usually younger, middle school age, as they tend to fight more. The option we give for younger offenders where a jury trial may not be appropriate is a plea bargain. The attorneys assigned to the case decide the sentence. This option allows the younger, immature defendant to avoid the potential difficulty of the witness stand.

In some cases, the judge sentences the defendant to attend a local Juvenile Aggression Management Class. It is run by local counselors but unfortunately it costs about $50.00 and not all can afford it.

I agree with you that often these cases deteriorate into who hit who first and so forth but I have found that the youth can come to an equitable agreement if left to decide it themselves.

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Irving Teen Court
Jean H. Griffin
Coordinator
City of Irving
P.O. Box 152288
Irving, TX 75015-2288
Phone: (972) 721-3601
Fax: (972) 721-2389
jgriffin@ci.irving.tx.us

In our city, if there is a "fight", with two or more people involved, the officer writes a ticket for each party as Disorderly Conduct-Fighting in public (which carries a $260 fine); if one person pushes, shoves, kicks, hits, etc., or even verbally assaults another, he/she is issued an Assault citation. So, our teen attorneys know that if there is an assault charge ($360 fine), for whatever reason the officer has cited the one person. Usually there is an arrest report available in either instance, which we give the attorneys for preparation--we do black-out any extraneous info. (i.e. other names/addresses, etc. that aren't needed in the specific case) and, since it is a "sentencing hearing" and not a trial, the prosecutor may quote directly from that report. Another tool that might be helpful, is having the defendants, esp. in non-traffic cases, during enrollment write a brief explanation of what happened. We do not make the interview sheets available to the prosecutors, but the defense attorneys may request to see them, and this can help them guide the defendants' statements and their own effort to bring out facts.

This isn't an exact example for this question, but does illustrate the usefulness of such a statement. We had a case where a young man stated adamantly in his testimony that he had never hit the other party; while waiting for the verdict, his parent was terribly incensed that the prosecutor did not accept/believe her son and said so in the closing remarks, pretty bluntly. On looking at the interview sheet, we found that the defendant had written at enrollment that he HAD hit the victim and why--which helped dramatically in dealing w/the parent and helping her see through the situation. (Unfortunately, in this instance, the defense attorney had not seen his statement, or the situation might never have risen.)

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Duncanville Teen Court
Olivia Harrington
Teen Court Coordinator
P.O. Box 380280
Duncanville, TX 75138-0280
Phone: (972) 780-5063
Fax: (972) 780-6463
oharrington@ci.duncanville.tx.us

Most of our conflict cases are Disruption of Class. In Texas, if 2 teens hit each other, in school, no matter which one started it, they are both guilty and receive citations. Of course when they get to teen court the other one started it. But we had one case where the one who retaliated received more hrs than the one hitting first. The jury has to stay within our grid of hours so even if they give the minimum they are still substantial. Sometimes the juries order a letter of apology, but not most cases. If our attorneys request in time, we subpoena the teacher-witness.

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Jennifer Strutz
Youth Court Coordinator
362 N. Third Avenue
Stayton, OR 97383
Phone: 503.769.5749
Fax: (503) 769-7573
jastrutz@aol.com

I do not handle assault cases but do work with harassment.  I have used a Ready-to-Use / VIOLENCE PREVENTION SKILLS LESSON & ACTIVITIES for Secondary Students by Ruth Weltmann Begun and Frank J. Huml, editors The Society for Prevention of Violence with The Center for Applied Research in Education. www.phdirect.com It is a ready to use curriculum based on real life situations to help you build student's character, prepare them to recognize situations that could become violent, and teach them the skills they need to deal with such conflicts in a non-violent and peaceful manner. This has been helpful for me and easy to use. It is reproducible.

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Lorraine Rutter, Director
Community Court Program
Mercer County Juvenile Probation
Mercer, Pennsylvania
lrutter@mcc.co.mercer.pa.us

We don't have any specific training on assault for our volunteers because with every case the circumstances are different. Because our program is based out of Juvenile Probation we have police reports etc. This aids us in determining how the incident took place and the involvement of the juvenile. In addition, as the director I do a social investigation before each case to gather information about the juvenile from home, school and community. This information is provided to my committee to review before the case. The community court, also does not determine guilt or innocence. I find that because the juvenile has admitted to the contents of the petition this is a message that there was some form of responsibility on that juvenile to have found some other alternative other than hitting. Maybe getting additional information from the school of past fights, or information from the community etc., could aid in making the jury more aware of the issues surrounding the case. I don't see training resolving this issue. I know from my experience I may have a different view from my committee because I see other red flag issues that maybe they haven't so in the end we hash it out and try to make a more informed decision.

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Valencia County Teen Court
Eugene Duran
Teen Court Coordinator
Village of Los Lunas-Valencia Co.
P.O. Box 1209
Los Lunas, NM 87031
Phone: (505) 866-8041
Fax: (505) 866-8044
durane@ci.los-lunas.nm.us

Excellent question! Fights are always difficult to process in an effective way in Teen Courts. We have encountered many of the issues you face. Communicate with your referral source the basis of your concerns. Our school system has the same concerns. Our public schools have difficulty addressing this issue. Most assault referrals occur at school. Both kids are often cited and we try and hear both sides of the case at the same hearing at the same time. This makes for better assignment of culpability and often makes for a better hearing in terms of the testimony. Often you may find the hearing going into the "history" of the case and realizing this goes way back. What your are addressing is "Interpersonal violence". How did these individuals behave that caused the relationship to reach this point and more importantly, how are they going to handle these situations in the future. The screening component can allow you to ascertain these issues if you are set up to explore these issues. It is important that your referral source understand your concerns. Have them attend an assault hearing and see the problems. Witnesses can be a key if you can find unbiased ones. Not enough time to explore this issue in this paragraph but I hope this helps.

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