Federal Youth Court Program

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Youth Court E-update

Date: October 2003 - (Download PDF Version)

Topic: Charging Administrative Fees

Question: Do other youth or community court programs charge any type of fee for allowing the juveniles to be diverted to the program? My view is that since the juveniles are cut a break from the regular system and we incur some costs in the program that would be some extra help.

Responses from Coordinators:

Shirley Santillana
Volusia County Teen Court
120 W. Indiana Ave.
Deland, FL 32720
Phone: (904) 822-5703
ssantillana@circuit7.org

Volusia County does not charge a fee. Since we are funded by an ordinance we have never had to consider that. It was an issue when I was in another county. I was informed that only the clerk of court is allowed to collect funds even though other programs do charge.

Lianne Morgan
Youth Services Director, Teen Family Court
Jackson Co. Circuit Court
312 S. Jackson
Jackson, MI 49201
Phone: (517) 768-2778
lmorgan@co.jackson.mi.us

Our court charges a $100 diversion fee for those minors participating in our Teen Family Court. Parents can fill out a financial statement if they want the judge to waive the costs. We started doing this a year ago and we have a pretty good collection rate. The monies collected are disbursed to the agencies that contract with us for diversion services.

Angie Martinez
Osceola Teen Court
2 Courthouse Square, Ste. 3100, Rm. 3118
Kissimmee, FL 34741
Phone: (407) 343-2465
ctadam1@ocnjcc.org

No, we don't charge any fees. If they have to do any special sanctions, like anger management or counseling, they have to pay for that.

Sid Ladow
Brevard Co. Teen Court
Office of the State Atty., 18th Circuit
2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way
Viera, FL 32940
Phone: (321) 617-7294
sladow@statty18.brevard.fl.us

A lot of Teen Courts do assess a small fee to handle cases. Florida has a real windfall. Florida Statute 983.19 allows local counties to pass an ordinance assessing each adult criminal conviction a fee of $3.00 (this includes traffic tickets) This gives me about $300,000.00 a year. The clerk of court puts it in a separate account for me and takes a fee of 5% for doing all the work. No way I can use all of it, the excess goes back to the court administrator. It is not clear what the money can be used for other than wages. Some of the Teen Courts get brave and buy shirts, etc. for the members. We are still at the stage that we are using the money only for salaries. The Brevard County Florida Teen Court has an administrator, two case managers and a secretary. We will probably have 200 Teen Court and 200 Peer Court cases this year. Brevard County is 15 miles wide and 75 miles long so we have to have 3 of everything, including 3 Teen courts. We also have to handle CAP cases. That is a hearing with the defendant and his family, no teens involved. We'll probably have 500 of those cases this year. CAP is for the kids who committed misdemeanors but are inappropriate for Teen or Peer Court. The CAP cases eat up more of the case manager's time than the Teen/Peer Court cases.

Morris Weinstein
Village of Lincolnshire Peer Jury
One Olde Half Day Rd.
Lincolnshire, IL 60069
Phone: (847) 883-9900
mweins@village.lincolnshire.il.us

We charge no fee. The community benefits from community service hours.

Monica Broadhurst
Metroport Teen Court
1400 Main St., Suite 440
Southlake, TX 76092
Phone: (817) 481-1897
mbroadhurst@cityofsouthlake.com

In Texas there is a $20 fee to participate in Teen Court (per state law). In the case of our program the Municipal Court keeps $10 and we the Teen Court receive $10.

Carolyn M. Peterson
Kootenai County Juvenile Diversion Administrator
P. O. Box 9000
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83816-9000
Phone: (208) 769-4458
cpeterson@co.kootenai.id.us

I am the Administrator of the Juvenile Diversion Program and also oversee the Kootenai County Youth Court. In both cases we have a fee for the young people to go through our programs. In our Youth Court it is a $50 fee for the opportunity to go through Youth Court.

Jennifer L. Trombla
105 Courthouse Plaza
Manhattan, KS 66502
Phone: (785) 565-6641
jtrombla@co.riley.ks.us

Yes, at the 21st Judicial Teen Court-headquarters in Manhattan, KS we charge an $80 fee for the program, but if they cannot afford it then they do not have to pay. It is a fee we request, but it is not mandatory to complete the program.

Mike Botke, Director
217 S. Capitol Ave., 7th Floor, Office 714
Lansing, MI 48933
Phone: (517) 371-2823
michaelbotke@ad.com

Lansing Teen Court requires a $20.00 oversight fee upon adjudication directly following courtroom process.

Dick Harbaugh
Seminole County Teen Court
190 Bush Blvd.
Sanford, FL 32773
Phone: (407) 665-5364
rharbaugh@seminole.fl.us

Starting 1 October the "Prosecution Alternatives for Youth" (PAY) program will start charging to go through this diversion program. Teen Court comes under PAY and I suppose they will be paying to go through. I also believe Bay County FL charges.

Jamie Payne
Teen Court Coordinator
6th Judicial District Community Services
501 S. Hospital Dr., Suite 200
Paola, KS 66071
Phone: (913) 294-2997
Fax: (913) 294-3028
jamielpayne@hotmail.com

Our Teen Court in the 6th Judicial District charges a flat $10 fee. However, we give the kids the opportunity to work off the fee by doing 2 extra hours of community service work.

Celeste Leider
Waupaca County Teen Court
811 Harding St.
Waupaca, WI 54891
Phone: (715) 258-6450
advocate@pitnet.net

Waupaca County Teen Court in Wisconsin charges $15.00.

Katie Self, President
Florida Association of Teen Courts
P O Box 48927
Sarasota, FL 34230
Phone: (941) 951-4278
fact@gte.net

In Florida there are a number of programs that do charge a fee. To my knowledge the fees range from $10 - $50. I can speak to the $10 "contribution" we have in Sarasota: As a non-profit agency we were looking at revenue sources in our early days when the Board of Directors determined that a nominal fee of $10 would not be unreasonable and could, based on the case load of that time of 250 cases, provide enough additional revenue to be of some assistance in our budget. We collect the $10 in approximately 2/3 of our cases (475 in 2000). We use the money to pay for the counselors who conduct our "Peer Circle" meetings so it does go into a service for the defendants. We waive the fee for those kids that have no way to earn the money themselves and do not take it from their parents. Our program was created to be an alternative to the payment of fees and fines so it seemed quite contradictory to start assessing those types of payments! The defendants do seem to take the payment of the contribution seriously and it does seem to give them an additional sense of restitution.

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

In Texas, we are allowed by law to charge a total of $20.00, with $10.00 designated specifically for Teen Court, and the other $10.00 going into the municipal treasury or the county treasury. The law states "may require [a fee]," so it is up to each court to decide what to collect. Our court does collect the full $20.00 from the respondent in order to be allowed to come through Teen Court.

Marjorie Maniccia, Director
Bethlehem Youth Court
261 Elm Ave.
Delmar, NY 12054
Phone: (518) 478-9544
BYC261@empireone.net

No, we do not charge any type of administrative fee. I'm not convinced it would work in our locality either. Bethlehem is a fairly wealthy suburb of Albany, NY and unless it was an extremely nominal fee - I'm not sure that a lot of the youths involved wouldn't rather just go through the court. They might see it as "double dipping" on the punishment side, since they'd end up with community service as well whereas if they went through the court, they might just end up with a fine. I would be very interested to know if other courts are using it, and if so, what the fee structure is, etc.

Lars Mead
Youth Courts of Broome County
67 Broad Street
Johnson City, New York 13970
Phone: (607) 729-9784
youthct@pronetisp.net

Our program had, in its inception, proposed charging a fee of $5 per respondent, though this never actually happened. We felt that the potential monetary gain was minimal particularly when weighed against the negative aspects of charging money for a voluntary diversion program. One of the selling points of the program, in addition to no official juvenile delinquency finding, is that there is no cost. Also it has been our experience that many families would be burdened by anything more than a nominal fee, which wouldn't really raise any money anyway. Of course it would be possible to waive the fee based on income standards, however this necessitates a potentially humiliating inquiry and is only worthwhile if the fees collected are significant enough to actually defray program costs. In the all too common Petit Larceny cases many families are already facing civil penalties (frequently about $75) whether they can afford them or not. Ultimately we have determined not to charge a fee as of this date.

Deborah Hollifield
Denton County Teen Court
6301 Main Street, Ste. 100
The Colony, TX 75056
Phone: (972) 625-7575
dhollifield@co.denton.tx.us

Texas statutes allow the referring court to charge $10 and the receiving Teen Court to charge $10. These are discretionary, not mandatory, administrative fees. Youths are also sometimes (but not always) excused from paying court costs (which can be as high as $60), but that goes through the court with original jurisdiction, and is paid to the State, so the Teen Court does not benefit.

Cindy Johnson
Rio Rancho Teen Court
P O Box 15190
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
Phone: (505) 891-5995
cjohnson@ci.rio-rancho.nm.us

Yes, we here at the Rio Rancho Teen Court (Rio Rancho, New Mexico) charge a $25 administrative fee to participate in our teen court program. This fee is certainly not enough to fully offset the costs we incur to provide the program, but it helps. The main reason, however, that we charge the fee is to insure the teen’s participation. We feel they are more likely to act responsibly and attend consistently if they have some investment in the program.

Shirley Zahn
Winnebago Co. Teen Court
504 Algoma Blvd.
Oshkosh, WI 54901
Phone: (920) 236-1120
szahn@co.winnebago.wi.us

Winnebago County (Oshkosh Wisconsin) charges a $10.00 fee for participation in Teen Court.

Terry Holdren
105 Courthouse Plaza
Manhattan, KS 66502
Phone: (785) 565-6641
tholdren@co.riley.ks.us

We currently charge an $80 fee for teens that participate in the program. Part of the fee is forwarded to the County to replace the court costs they would have realized if the case had been filed. The remainder is held in the Teen Court budget. We also require students to pay for any drug testing or other programs that are part of their sentence.

Joel Clouser
YMCA Teen Court
P O Box 428
Missouri City, TX 77459
Phone: (281) 403-8080
clousjoe@fort-bend.tx.us

If the juvenile pleads "guilty" or "no contest" and is referred to the Teen Court program, they are charged a $48 court cost and a $10 teen court fee.

Debra Linhart
Greater Jefferson Youth Peer Court
P O Box 911
Jefferson, OR 97383
Phone: (541) 327-1301
linhartfam@proaxis.com

Our youth court program imposes a $5.00 fee. During their initial intake the offender is told "HE/SHE" must pay the $5.00 - NOT the parent. They must pay the fee prior to the closing of their file.

Joel Booth
Bay Co. Teen Court
P O Box 1206
Panama City, FL 32402
Phone: (850) 747-5191
BCTeenCourt@aol.com

The Bay County Teen Court assesses a $55 processing fee for all defendants. We collect $20 at intake------the remaining sum of $35 is collected at the defendant's trial. It should be noted that we work with any family that may have financial challenges and cannot meet this demand.

Christy Keen
Dixie County Teen Court
P O Box 1180
Cross City, FL 32628
Phone: (352) 498-1263
keen_chr@dixie.k12.fl.us

I would like to know how this turns out. I am thinking about assessing a fee for Teen Court Defendants. Currently, we require individuals who have received a (2nd offense) tobacco citation to pay the $25 civil penalty to the Teen Court Program.

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

Texas State Statues allows for waiver of court cost and fines and the administrative fee for a total of $20. (2 - $10 fees) see below.

Family Code:
e) The court may require a child who requests a teen court program to pay a fee not to exceed $10 that is set by the court to cover the costs of administering this section. The court shall deposit the fee in the county treasury of the county in which the court is located. A child who requests a teen court program and does not complete the program is not entitled to a refund of the fee.

g) In addition to the fee authorized by Subsection (e), the court may require a child who requests a teen court program to pay a $10 fee to cover the cost to the teen court for performing its duties under this section. The court shall pay the fee to the teen court program, and the teen court program must account to the court for the receipt and disbursal of the fee. A child who pays a fee under this subsection is not entitled to a refund of the fee, regardless of whether the child successfully completes the teen court program.

Code of Criminal Procedure:
e) The justice or municipal court may require a person who requests a teen court program to pay a fee not to exceed $10 that is set by the court to cover the costs of administering this article. Fees collected by a municipal court shall be deposited in the municipal treasury. Fees collected by a justice court shall be deposited in the county treasury of the county in which the court is located. A person who requests a teen court program and fails to complete the program is not entitled to a refund of the fee.

f) In addition to the fee authorized by Subsection (e) of this article, the court may require a child who requests a teen court program to pay a $10 fee to cover the cost to the teen court for performing its duties under this article. The court shall pay the fee to the teen court program, and the teen court program must account to the court for the receipt and disbursal of the fee. A child who pays a fee under this subsection is not entitled to a refund of the fee, regardless of whether the child successfully completes the teen court program

g) A justice or municipal court may exempt a defendant for whom proceedings are deferred under this article from the requirement to pay a court cost or fee that is imposed by another statute

Staci L. Moulton
Musselshell County Youth Peer Court
122 Main StreetRoundup, MT 59072
Phone: (406) 323-2825
ypc@midrivers.com

We charge $45.00, the same as our Justice Court does so the administrative cost to the youth is the same no matter what route they choose.

Rosa Macias-Lugo
TC Administrator/ Leavenworth County Teen Court
314 Leavenworth, KS 66048
Phone: (913) 682-8222
rosaandchristina@aol.com

The Leavenworth County Teen Court Program (Leavenworth, Kansas) has a $10.00 administrative fee. We are currently considering raising that amount to $25.00 in October 2001.

Paula Bruce
McCullum Youth Court
337 17th Street, Ste. 205
Oakland, CA 94612-3356
Phone: (510) 832-5858
plbruce@pacbell.net

I think that it depends on who you receive funding from, if you get Federal JAIBG or other federal money, no, or state or local public funding, no. If you have to raise all your funding every year then it would be prudent to charge for services. In California and many other states people pay an organization to finding them community services opportunities when they receive a court ordered fine and are allowed to perform community services in lieu or fine or commitment to jail. Most of these organizations are fully fundedg by charging for services.

Detective Tony Ferderber
Brigham City Police
20 N. Main
Brigham City, UT 84302
Phone: (435) 723-3424
cibcc@tonyf@state.ut.us

The South Box Elder Youth Court charges a $10.00 court fee.

Adelita Grijalva
Pima County Teen Court
345 E. Toole Ave., Ste. 104
Tucson, AZ 85701
Phone: (520) 884-8799
adelita_g@yahoo.com

Pima County Teen Court charges a $35.00 fee to participate in our program. The fee is waived in 35% of cases (teens must work the fee "off" through 5 hours of community service in these cases). In Pima County, families are charged an initial $40.00 fee from Pima County Juvenile Court, a diversion fee from us (or other diversion program), and then charged a $60.00 fee at the termination of their case by Juvenile Court.

Jennifer Strutz
Youth Court Coordinator
362 N. Third Avenue
Stayton, OR 97383
Phone: (503) 769-5749
Fax: (503) 769-7573
jastrutz@aol.com

Stayton Sublimity Youth Peer Court charges a $25 accountability contract fee as a privilege to go through the peer court process. Our juvenile department charges a $25 accountability contract fee for 1st time offenders who do not go through the peer court process. I haven't had one problem and it has been over a year since the fee was instituted. If a family absolutely cannot pay the $25 then 25 hours of community payback service is mandatory beside what the jury may find.

Jason Holthus
Alachua County Teen Court
P O Box 1210
Gainesville, FL 32608
Phone: (352) 367-4125
jholthus@alachuasheriff.org

Alachua County Sheriff's Office Teen Court does not charge a fee for first-time youthful offenders to come through our program. I know that it may be a consideration in the near future.

Teen Court of Brown County Wisconsin and Youth Court in Green Bay Wisconsin.
teencourt@familyservicesnew.org

Teen Court (12-16 year olds) and Youth Court (8-11 year olds) do not charge an administrative fee. The Teen Court budget is $75,000 a year and the small amount of money we would make from a fee is not worth the hassle of collecting and deciding who could have a sliding fee scale.

Bruce Steinmetz
Bethel Teen Court
870 Berntzen Rd.
Eugene, OR 97402
Phone: (541) 682-6376
bruce.h.steinmetz@ci.eugene.or.us

The Eugene Teen Court program does not charge a fee for participants. Participation is voluntary and, since our local Department of Youth Services generally takes no action on first offense cases, we try not to add other disincentives for using the program. Also, we would probably have to set up a separate fee collection and tracking system to satisfy the City accountants while maintaining reasonable confidentiality (requires more explanation than you want here) and the expense and hassle of implementation might make the financial benefit minimal. I can see where a program might choose to charge a fee, either to recover some costs or to obtain additional commitment from the defendant family, but would hope the fees would never be high enough to exclude anyone.

Sandy Harbanuk
Juneau Youth Court Coordinator
10014 Crazy Horse Dr.
Juneau, AK 99801
Phone: (907) 463-1956
harbans@jsd.k12.ak.us

The Juneau Youth Court in Juneau, Alaska, does not charge a fee. Since so many of the youths we see are low income, and many have family issues that are driving or contributing to the youths' problems, a fee would be hard to impose. The other problem that I see is the collection of the fee: 1/if a family has a choice between a diversionary program that charges a fee and a court process with no cost, that may be the deciding factor. 2/collecting the fee if it isn't paid, deciding for whom the fee might be waived, or refusing service to families that won't or can't pay adds a layer of work for program coordinators that distracts from the work of the court.

Dave Stanifer
425 N. Main
Adrian, MI 49221
Phone: (517) 264-4622
david.stanifer@lenawee.mi.us

We assess the same amount to all cases referred to our court no matter what the decision is at the intake hearing.

Karianne Aaron
J.E.T. Program
P.O. Box 458
Sisters, OR 97759
Phone: (541) 549-2302 x 13
karia@co.deschutes.or.us

Yes, youth participating in the J.E.T. Program (Juvenile Empowerment Team) pay a $40.00 program fee. The J.E.T. Program is non-profit - but the money does go for supplies and other miscellaneous things. Plus, it creates an impact that committing a crime costs $$$$$!!!

Cheryl Griffitts
Klawock Youth Court Coordinator
P O Box 82
Klawock, AK 99925
Phone: (907) 755-2265
griffits2001@yahoo.com

Our youth court in Klawock, Alaska does not charge any type of fee. I do not believe that we ever will.

Kurt Jacobs
13th Judicial District Teen Court Program
Smith Bldg., 226 West Central
El Dorado, KS 67042
Phone: (316) 322-8538
kjacobs@bucks.com

In my state and judicial district we are allowed by statute to collect "reasonable administration fees" for any diversion or deferred prosecution program. Teen Court falls into these categories. We currently collect $50 from each client participating in the program. Exceptions are made for those whose financial situation will not support this requirement. However, my program is currently funded by OJJDP pass-through monies allotted to our state. We receive funding in the form of a Title II grant. The governing body administering the grant installed a policy for the coming grant cycle (Oct 01-Sept 02), which does not allow for the assessment of fees to individuals receiving services paid from grant funds. We have received clarification allowing us to continue collecting the fees as long as it is not a "requirement," that is, we are not able to fail anyone from the program for failing to pay the fee. That had no impact, as we have never failed anyone for that purpose prior to the decision. We utilize the monies collected for purchase of service for clients that are financially unable to comply, such as drug/alcohol evaluations, counseling, etc. We also use the funds for purchase of goods that the grant will not allow, such as doughnuts or pizza for training meetings, etc.

Kyla Remsburg
Bonneville Co. Youth Court/Co-Director
883 Shoup Ave.
Idaho Falls, ID 83402
Phone: (208) 528-5600
kremsbur@co.bonnevile.id.us

The Bonneville County Youth Court in Idaho Falls, Idaho collects a $35.00 fee for each juvenile who is diverted through our program. These fees along with grant money received from our state legislature allow us to continue and expand our program each year.

Austin YMCA
1100 W. Cesar Chavez Way
Austin, TX 78703
Phone: (512) 476-1183
ymcateencourt@hotmail.com

The Texas statute allows the city court to collect $10 and the program to collect $10 from each participant (unless it's changed in the last few years). It varies from court to court whether the amount is charged or not. Since the YMCA operates the court here in Austin, we offer it as a no-cost way of getting out of trouble, and the city complies by not charging their $10. On the other hand, we also operate a court in the small towns west of Austin, and they all charge the $10 even though the Y does not.

David E. VanLandegen
Rock Island County
1503 3rd Ave
Rock Island, IL 61201
Phone: (309) 788-3046
dvanlandegen@co.rock-island.il.us

We charge a $10.00 administration fee to enter into the program. It is not much, but it makes the family and child have some ownership. We also have it in our sanctions that defendants can be fined up to $50. This money is used for not only administration, but other things as well.

Jean Fieler, Executive Director
Suwanee County Teen Court
200 S. Ohio Ave.
Live Oak, FL 32064
Phone: (386) 362-0549
jeanfieler@hotmail.com

Suwannee County Teen Court has considered charging for each youth being diverted through our program but we have not implemented it as of this time. I have to be honest with you - the revenue would certainly help. We have always rejected the idea in the past because most of our kids come from families that do not have a substantial income. However, even $3.00 per case would be helpful in a program our size.

Jeannette Pollnow
Taylor County Teen Court
224 S. 2nd St.
Medford, WI 54457
Phone: (715) 718-1462
chazpd@tds.net

Taylor County Teen Court in Medford, Wisconsin mandates a $10-25 court cost, which is ordered by the jury. Our reason for this is that our court does not fund us and since we need to keep it going, this small fee helps out. We haven't had anyone complain about the court costs since it is cheaper than the ones they would have to pay if they went through "formal" court. My Judge was actually the one who suggested that we do this.

Teen Court of Hopkins County, Inc.
P O Box 1113
Sulphur Springs, TX 75483
Phone: (903) 439-1200
hcteencourt@hotmail.com

We charge a $10 fee that the referring court collects for us and then pays to us on a monthly or quarterly basis. It doesn't cover much but it helps some.

Marian Irvin
201 E. Moody Blvd, Room 138
Bunnell, FL 32110
Phone: (386) 437-7407
mirvin@clerk.co.flagler.fl.us

Flagler County's Teen Court Program does NOT charge a fee of any type, and I do not feel this is an avenue we are even ready to approach.

Jason Bergstrand
Cass County Youth Court
1325 11th St. South
Fargo, ND 58103
Phone: (701) 271-3253
jbergstrand@lssnd.org

We do not require any fees to go through our Youth Court program, however I know that many courts do. They do it for the simple reason to help defray the cost of running their program. Defendants do not have to pay to go through the traditional Juvenile Court system so I believe I would have a hard time convincing defendants that they should go through YC but pay a fee that Juvenile Court not otherwise requires. Each defendant does have to pay for any educational classes or community service that is ordered. We considered those things to be fines. Some questions to consider might be: How much can we realistically charge and how much money would it generate your program? Are there alternative ways to secure funding?

Barb Jacobson
Dakota Co. Peer Court
1560 Hwy 55
Hastings, MN 55033
Phone: (651) 438-8368
Barb.Jacobson@co.dakota.mn.us

Our office does not charge a fee. We do charge fees for the other diversion programs we coordinate, but I believe that is because we have to pay a fee for the classes the juveniles attend.

Kimberly Barrows
Clinton County Youth Court
137 Margaret Street
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Phone: (518) 565-4750
BarrowsK@co.Clinton.ny.us

Clinton County Youth Court does not charge a fee for any of our services rendered. I believe that if we charged, these juveniles would instead participate in other free court diversion programs or offer to be adjusted by the Dept. of Probation as there is also no charge for their services.

Irene Bustamante
Orange Co. Teen Court
2000 E. Michigan
Orlando, FL 32806
Phone: (407) 836-9517
ctadeb1@ocnjcc.org

We do not charge anything to go through the Teen Court program in Orange County, Florida. We are subsidized by the ordinance that the county has passed. The ordinance is a mandatory court cost of $3.00 against every person convicted of a violation of a criminal statute, ordinance of traffic offense as provided under 39.019, Florida Statutes.

Jayne Clarke, Coordinator
McDonough County Teen Court
P O Box 804
Macomb, IL 61455
Phone: (309) 836-9208
jayne@macomb.com

I just assumed all Teen Courts charged a fee. The ones that I have talked with all do. We charge $25.00 and if the defendant can't pay, he/she is given a chance to earn the fee.

Karlene Peart
Layton Youth Court
P O Box 2103
Layton, UT 84040
Phone: (801) 444-1746
JKPeart@aol.com

In Layton, Utah we charge a $30 administration fee to come to Youth Court. Upon completion of their disposition, they get a $10 refund. It is an extra incentive to complete the program. We do have a policy that if they cannot afford the fee, it can be waived.

Michele George
Teen Court of Huerfano County
401 Main St., Ste. 304
Walsenburg, CO 81089
Phone: (719) 742-0240
hcteencourt@yahoo.com

Last year my board of directors decided that juvenile defendants diverted into the program should be charged a "participation fee." There are several reasons for their decision; some of which are: respect for the program {it's not free}, and the fact that in my district they are avoiding other fees normally applied to cases. Our fee is $25.00. The amount goes into the general budget and is used for education purposes, administration or whatever else we fall short on in donations, gifts and grants.

Nathan Miller
Wright County Court Services
10 2nd Street NW, Rm. # 141
Buffalo, MN 55313
Phone: (800) 362-3667
nathan.miller@co.wright.mn.us

We charge a $20 Teen Court fee. That is the same amount they would pay if the offender participated in our traditional diversion program.

Janeen M. Cochran, Coordinator
Floyd County Teen Court
3005 Grantlane Rd.
New Albany, IN 47150
Phone: (812) 948-5476
ABBCX1@ad.com

Yes, Floyd County Teen Court in Indiana charges a Teen Court fee. We are a diversion program, therefore a diversion fee is appropriate. We charge $50.00, it must be completely paid within 6 months, as the sentence must be completed in 6 months to get the file closed.

Lisa Albert-Konecky
Mat-Su Youth Court
290 E. Herning Ave.
Wasilla, AK 99645
Phone: (907) 376-8158
msyc@ci.wasilla.ak.us

The Mat-Su Youth Court does not charge a fee to go through the court hearing and have their case supervised. If the defendant is sentenced to an anti-shoplifting class the charge is $10. We are now discussing the idea of charging a fee for the youth court program, but our board has not decided yet. We will be forming a youth diversion panel to hear first time minor consuming/possession cases, and will be charging $50 for that class.

Ramon Velazquez
Santa Barbara Teen Court
P O Box 28
Santa Barabra, CA 93102
Phone: (805) 963-1433
teencrt@silcom.com

We have a "Program Fee" for all of our Teen Court clients that are diverted to us. The fee is established on a sliding scale, which is adjusted on parental income versus number of dependents. The bottom of the scale is $20, while the top of the scale is $65. We DO NOT turn away clients because of inability to pay the Program Fee. These fees are brought back into the program to help with administrative costs.

Bane Ashley
Municipal Judge
Benton County Oregon
24405 Iris Circle
Philomath, OR 97370-9005
ashley_bane@hotmail.com

We charge a $15 Court Fee, which can be eliminated by the judge if the defendant has already paid a large amount to someone else concerning his/her case. This fee helps pay for the Reserve Deputy Sheriff that's the bailiff --- the judge [me] a Municipal Judge and also a Reserve Deputy Sheriff is free to the community [community service].

Tracy Bullock, Teen Court Director
Elkhart County Youth Services Bureau
222 Middlebury Street
Elkhart, IN 46516
Phone: (219) 294-3549
caleb55@juno.com

We charge the juveniles $40.00 to go through our teen court. The court costs them $123.00 in our county so they’re saving a large amount of money. This $40.00 doesn't even begin to pay our expenses. However, being new to our program, we have never had a specific grant for the Teen Court program either. YSB picks up the total cost, minus the $40.00 I get from the juvenile offenders. Occasionally, we have to waive the fee, however, the juvenile must do community service for this option.

Benjamin Morgan, Teen Court Coordinator
Union County Juvenile Department
1102 K Avenue
La Grande, OR 97850
Phone: (541) 963-1012
Fax: (541) 963-1038
bmorgan@union-county.org

We charge a $25 supervision fee for all cases that come through the Juvenile Dept, diversion or not.

Jenny Stern-Carusone
Coordinator – Fern Ridge Peer Court
P O Box 458
Veneta, OR 97487
jennysc@earthlink.net

We have not instituted a fee because, although the youth involved in peer court are given an opportunity to clear their juvenile record of the charge, they are required to do significantly more in order to complete the peer court sentence then if they had stayed in the juvenile system. In our jurisdiction, youth who are referred to the peer court would normally receive a letter in the mail, indicating that a referral had been made to the juvenile court and that it had been entered into their juvenile record. There is not an adjudication or any other intervention taken. At age 18, the youth can expunge their record of all non-adjudicated charges. Some youth do not feel that having the short term record negatively impacts them and prefer to avoid the obligations posed by the peer court option. Thus, we have decided that a instituting a fee might be a deterrent to youth choosing the peer court option. Although our program does not currently have any kind of fee, it has been a discussion topic in regards to the impact it could have on our appeal to funders. The discussion focused on the fact that funders like to see that the target population is giving back to the community. Although our youth perform community service, it is not necessarily done in their home community because of limitations of community service resources. I am interested in what other courts are doing in this regard.

Holly R. Nockels
Mid-America Council Teen Court Program
12401 W. Maple Rd.
Omaha, NE 68164-1853
Phone: (402) 431-9272
hnockels@mac-bsa.org

The Mid-America Council Teen Court Program does charge a $40.00 fee/court cost. This fee is charged not only to help defray the costs to operate our program, but if the youth defendant is required to pay the fee himself or herself, they will hopefully have a "buy-in" or incentive to complete. If a defendant absolutely cannot afford the fee, we would not deny them the opportunity. However, that has never happened to date. We allow the youth to make installment payments.

Cathy Beaty
cathyb-nwys@uswest.net

In our county, when Diversion was handled by a non-profit organization, they charged $75 to come through the program. This year the Diversion is being handled by Juvenile Services and they are not charging a fee.

Myra Weeks
Wichita County Teen Court
900 7th Street, Room212
Wichita Falls, TX 76301-2482
Phone: (940) 715-8575
Myra.Weeks@co.wichita.tx.us

Youth in Wichita County Teen Court are charged a $20.00 administrative fee. Ten goes to the state, ten to us.

Judge Thomas North
100 Marley Street
St. Ignace, MI 49781
Phone: (906) 643-7319
p49@voyager.net

We (the Circuit Court Family Divisions for Mackinac and Luce Counties, Michigan) do not charge any fee for our teen jury program.

Erin Schellhardt
Johnson Co. Youth Court
1255 East 119th St.
Olathe, KS 66061
Phone: (913) 324-6965
erin.schellhardt@jocoks.com

We charge a $25 fee. We may look at increasing this in the future. We are considered a "diversionary" program and diversion costs $35/month here. We also incur costs and this has helped defray a portion of these costs and was even used last year to send a delegate to the National Youth Court conference.

Rosalyn Trumm
Sarpy County Teen Court
1257 Golden Gate Dr.
Papillion, NE 68046
Phone: (402) 593-2207
rosalynt@sarpy.com

Our teen court charges teen court costs of $55.00 for all regular charges such as theft, criminal mischief, trespass, etc. Teen court costs for Minors in Possession of Alcohol or alcohol related offenses (shoplifting alcohol) are $80.00. If the jury requires community service hours, there is a $10.00 fee that is paid to the Treasurer's office for the service of the Community Service Office, which handles community service for the adult courts, juvenile court, and our office (Diversion Office). There are also additional fees for some of the programs required by the jury. For example, if the jury requires an offender to attend an alcohol education class or a class on making responsible decisions, there are fees of $50.00 for each class. These fees are still less than what an offender would have to pay if he/she went through the regular Diversion Program which charges fees of $75.00 ($125.00 for non-county residents) and MIP charges of $125.00 ($175.00 for non-county). Also less than Juvenile Court which has court costs of $43.00 and court appointed attorney fees of $55.00. Plus, in juvenile court and diversion, the offender is still required to pay the costs of programs required (alcohol education, chemical dependency evaluations, counseling, etc.). In teen court we stress that the fees are the responsibility of the offender. If the youth is too young to earn money, we encourage additional chores at home to repay parents for the costs. Throughout the 21 years that I have worked in the juvenile system here in Sarpy County, it is my experience that offenders tend to regard the charges as more serious and take more responsibility for their actions when they are required to pay fees. When parents automatically pay all costs upfront, we tend to see those juveniles back in the system.

Gwen Vieau, CRF-OC Business & Program Director
Orange County Peer Court
17875 Von Karman, Ste. 100
Irvine, CA
Phone: (949) 449-6747, x137
gvieau@crfoc.com

We don't charge a fee to the juveniles referred. However, we have a contract with the County of Orange, which reimburses our costs up to a point.

Peggy Calliham
Community Programs Coordinator
City of College Station
P. O. Box 9960
College Station, TX 77842
Phone: (979) 764-3499
Fax: (979) 764-3894
pcalliham@ci.college-station.tx.us

Our state allows us to charge $10 for Teen Court Administration and $10 for Municipal Court. Thus the total cost is $20 per offense.

Desiree Cordova
Aurora Teen Court
15001 East Alameda Dr.
Aurora, CO 80012
Phone: (303) 739-6543
dcordova@ci.aurora.co.us

Our court collects a $25 fee from all Teen Court defendants. While this may seem high, we figure that even combined with the municipal court fees of $40 prior to their Teen Court referral it is still substantially less than they would pay if they received the original fine. Most of the fee goes towards the general administrative costs for handling the case, but a portion also goes into our risk fund, which would cover any possible expenses if a defendant were to get injured at the community service site. From time to time we have waived this fee if the family is clearly unable to produce the funds. The risk fund however is a cost that is required.

Shauna Moore
Lakewood Teen Court
445 S. Allison Parkway
Lakewood, CO 80226
Phone: (303) 987-7440
shaunam@lakewood.org

Our fees depend on the length of supervision.

3 months = $88

$40 intake cost (fee for intake interview & paperwork preparation for the court)
$30 supervision fee (case management for 3 months)
$15 court costs (standard for all cases process in the municipal court)
$3 victim witness surcharge (10% of supervision fee)

6 months = $121

$40 intake
$60 supervision
$15 court costs
$3 victim witness surcharge

9 months = $154

same w/$90 supervision
$9 victim witness surcharge

12 months = $187

same w/$120 supervision
$12 victim witness surcharge

Lakewood Teen Court is part of the Lakewood Probation Department. The Probation Department handles all of the deferred judgment cases too. Defendants meet with a probation officer for an intake interview to determine if they are eligible for teen court and if their case if appropriate. All teen court cases are deferred judgment cases so the above fees are assessed on all deferred judgment/teen court cases depending on the length of supervision. My recommendation is to absolutely charge a fee. A fee promotes "buy in" from the defendant and their families. We have found that to not charge a fee for programs doesn't promote attendance or compliance.

Michelle Brink-Gluhosky
Pennington County Teen Court
300 Kansas City St.
Rapid City, SD 57701
Phone: (605) 394-6909
michellebg@co.pennington.sd.us

We charge a $20 fee to participate in the Teen Court Program. We are a fairly new program (3 1/2 mo.), but have not had any problems with kids and families unable to pay the fee. However, we have allowed IOU's on the night of court for a kid who didn't get paid at his job until a couple days after court and for a parent who forgot-- just be very specific about the date that the fee is expected. We also encourage parents to write up a "contract" or agreement with their child if they are having to foot the bill for them so that the juvenile can work it off or be responsible for paying parent back.

Pam Troia
Montgomery Co. Teen Court
50 Maryland Ave.
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: (240) 777-7388
troia@co.mo.md.us

In Montgomery County, Maryland we charge a $10.00 fee for respondents and no one seems to mind or find it inappropriate. For those who cannot afford it (eligible for free hot lunch) we waive the fee. The only difficulty I run into is that our brochures state that there is a fee for respondents and inevitably the volunteers come in for training expecting to pay a $10.00 fee (now there's an interesting idea).

Michele Carlton
Jefferson County Teen Court
7 Empsall Plaza Courtyard
Watertown, NY 13601
Phone: (315) 785-0333
youthcrt@imcnet.net

Jefferson County NY here. We do not access a fee. Our advisory committee does not think it is appropriate. Most of the kids involved (70%) are from low-income homes.

Lori Wallace
Teen Court of Collier County
3301 Tamiami Trail E.
Naples, FL 34112
Phone: (941) 774-8800
teencourt@naplesnews.net

If juveniles were to be charged a fee to participate in youth court, they would have to be charged fees for juvenile arbitration, juvenile court or any other diversionary programs. If this fee wasn't an across the board fee, parents may pick the program without a fee thus hindering a great opportunity for their child to learn about consequences. There is another issue, parents that couldn't afford a fee would not let their child participate. This could be discrimination issue. I think we should not charge a fee so we can encourage parents to give their child every opportunity to change the course of their life in a positive way.

Linda Sloan
Delta youth Court
P O Box 1504
Delta Junction, AK 99737
Phone: (907) 895-5328
dyc@wilkak.net

At Delta Youth Court in Delta Junction Alaska we do not have any sort of fee for being involved in youth court. As much of our population is at or near the poverty level a fee if applied would have to be minimal. I believe that some families would opt to go through the juvenile justice system if there was a fee to participate in the youth court program.

Lori Kryszewski
Township of Downers Grove Peer Jury
4340 Prince Street
Downers Grove, IL 60515
Phone: (630) 968-6408
LoriK@twp.downers-grove.il.us

We do not charge a fee at this time. Honestly, I did not consider this as we are a government agency and most of the services we provide are at low or no cost. That is not to say that we wouldn't consider doing it in the future. Currently this is a collaborative effort between 3 police departments soon to be 6 to 7 and it would require agreement among all parties if we were to charge a fee. One of the reasons I chose to pursue this type of program besides the obvious benefits to the community was its low budget. Nonetheless, it is an idea worth discussing as the fee could be minimal and it could cover the administrative costs for the program rather easily in my opinion.

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

We charge a $40 fee, which can be paid or worked off at $5/hr. The fee was raised from $30 last year.

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

My particular program doesn't charge as the County Sheriff's Dept. pays for my program and so we are here to provide a service. In our county of Deschutes, Oregon...we have a total of 4 diversion/teen court programs. My program is the only one which doesn't charge a fee. The other programs are supported by city governments, and so they do not totally recoup all the costs of for the programs but still do charge a fee. The fees vary from as low as $10 for middle school youth, to $45 for high school youth. There is always, an option of youth doing community service in lieu of the fine, if they cannot afford to pay.

Donald G. Learned, Ed.S.
Coordinator of the 20th
Judicial District Teen Court
2l00 Kansas Ave.
Great Bend, Ks. 67530
Phone: (620) 793-1930
ts20ks@hotmail.com

We have the following Teen Court fees for the 20th Judicial District, which comprises 5 counties in Central Kansas. One county, Stafford, has not bought into our program but the fees are as follows:

Barton County--Teen Court $50; Barton County Attorney Office $25, UA if needed $l2
Rice County--Teen Court $50; Rice County Attorney Office $25, UA if needed $l2
Russell County--Teen Court $25; Russell County Attorney Office $25, Russell County $25 and UA if needed $l2
Ellsworth County--Teen Court $50, Ellsworth County Attorney Office $25 and UA if needed $l2

We have had Teen Court in the 20th Judicial District for 4 full years with 273 juveniles going through our program. We have not had any negative comments at all. In Kansas, we now have l8 Teen Courts compared to only 2 when I started our Teen Court in l997.

Debbie Miera
Torrance County Teen Court
P O Box 2834
Moriarty, NM 87035
Phone: (505) 832-6277
bkmiera@aol.com

We do not charge any fees for participation in our Teen Court Program. We have discussed it and decided to keep it that way as long as we can.

Sharon Leon
P O Box 102735
Anchorage, AK 99510
Phone: (907) 274-5986
ayc@alaska.net

Anchorage Youth Court (AYC) charges each defendant in its regular youth court program (for youth in grades 7 - 12) $50. All defendants are required to earn the fee themselves, and tell how they earned it, or how they earned the money to repay their parents in their sentencing essays. The average entire cost in this program for each defendant is $350. For the first 6 years defendants did not pay a service fee. However, AYC's donors and Board felt each defendant should earn some money - put in some sweat equity. They also felt young people could earn this amount of money. A very few youth cannot pay the full amount. They must at least pay $10, and work off the rest in the youth court office. This has worked for the last 6 years. Annual revenue from these fees has been $18,000 to $21,000 annually. For the new AYC Pre-Court Pilot Project (children ages 9 - 12, not yet in 7th grade) the fee is $35. Realizing that in most cases children this age cannot earn money outside of the family, AYC Pre-Court requires them to do home work service to repay their parents for the AYC fee and any educational program fees required in sentencing. Following sentence completion, the defendant explains at his/her review what s/he did at home to repay her/his parents, among other requirements. Of 37 cases so far, all have complied except the one whose family moved before he was able to come to court.

Angela Battaglia
Maricopa County Juvenile Court
1810 South Lewis Street
Mesa, AZ 87035
Phone: (505) 832-6277
ANGBAT@Juvenile.maricopa.gov

In Maricopa County all families that are diverted to Teen Court are charged a $40 diversion fee. This is mandated by law in our state.

Linda F. Anson
Lafayette Teen Court, Inc.
P O Box 2666
Lafayette, LA 70502-2666
Phone: (337) 232-5977
ltc1@bellsouth.net

We do not charge any fees for the youth or the parents to participate in our Teen Court program. We have tossed the question back and forth, but the consensus is they do not have to pay any fees in the courts. My board decided that we would not either. After all, most of our clientele can't afford any thing and it would be unaffordable for those we are trying to reach.

Bill Graham, Teen Court Moderator
East Tempe and Chandler Teen Courts
2051 W. Warner
Chandler, AZ
Phone: (480) 963-6691
DorothyTomkiewicz@mcjc.maricopa.gov

Here at East Tempe Teen Court and at Chandler Teen Court, we do charge a $40 diversion fee that goes to Superior Court and a $15 victims general fund fee. These two items are billed to the parents, who sign a diversion fee assessments form provided by the county. Therefore, we do not handle the money at Teen Court.

Starr Thiesen
400 Main Street
Cottage Grove, OR 97242
Phone: (541) 942-9145
starr@cgpolice.org

No, the Cottage Grove Peer Court does not charge a fee. However, I have submitted a proposal to the City, requesting that Peer Court may charge a small fee ($5.00 for first time offenders, $10.00 for second). I have not received a response at this time.

Terry D. Holdren
Assistant County Attorney
105 Courthouse Plaza
Manhattan, KS 66502
Phone: (785) 537-6390
tholdren@co.riley.ks.us

We currently charge an $80 fee for teens who participate in the program. Part of the fee is forwarded to the County to replace the court costs they would have realized if the case had been filed. The remainder is held in the Teen Court budget. We also require students to pay for any drug testing or other programs that are part of their sentence.

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