Topic: Prayer in Court

Question: Has anyone encountered a situation where a volunteer has forced clients to pray with them before their case?  If so, how have you handled the situation?  If you received negative press, how have you handled it?  

Responses from Coordinators:

Donald P. McCullum Youth Court
Rachel Sing
Executive Director
337 17th Street, Ste. 205
Oakland, CA 94612-3356
510-832-5858 ext. 302
Fax: 510-834-4421
rachel@youthcourt.org
www.youthcourt.org

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Santa Barbara Teen Court
Ramon Velazquez
Program Manager
Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse
PO Box 28
Santa Barbara, CA 93102
805-963-1433 ext.
Fax: 805-963-4099
ramonv@cadasb.org
www.cadasb.org/en/northcounty/teencourt.html

No, we've never had this situation.

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College Station Teen Court
Peggy Calliham
Coordinator
City of College Station
PO Box 9960
College Station, TX 77840
979-764-3499 ext.
Fax: 979-764-3894
pcalliham@cstx.gov
www.cstx.gov/home/index.asp?page=1445

Not had this experience but if I did, I would counsel with the volunteer
that this was not appropriate in this setting. If they did not comply,
they would not be recalled to volunteer.   If they pray, they need to do
it on their own and not force their belief on others or make them
uncomfortable.    No bad press.

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

Sometimes matters of religious expression present gray areas where rights in conflict have to be weighed, but, in my opinion, this one isn't even close.  No one acting on behalf of a court system, whether paid staff or volunteer, should be leading clients in prayer - much less "forcing" them.  The nearest I've had to deal this with was when a juror asked the defendant on the stand about her religious beliefs.  The family didn't complain but I told the juror afterwards that the court could not appear to be basing its sentence recommendations on someone's religion.  A minister's son, he wasn't sure he agreed with me, but he agreed to avoid such questions in the future.  (Sometimes defendants will, on their own initiative, refer to their religion or church while testifying, but that's different, I think, and perfectly acceptable.)  

I think you have to clearly tell your volunteer that telling clients to pray as part of the court process isn't appropriate.  If this is not acceptable to the volunteer, than perhaps he or she should consider volunteering instead for a church organization where prayers would be fine.  I don't mean to sound harsh and the volunteer no doubt means well, but there are times when one has to set aside one's personal religious practices while performing a public role.  As for the negative press, I think it would be best to acknowledge that the volunteer made a mistake, apologize, and assure people that the staff would be educated on the issue so that the incident won't be repeated.  Good luck in repairing any damaged bridges.  

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Chicago Policy Peer Jury Programs
Clifton Underwood
Peer Jury Coordinator
Chicago Police Dept.
3510 S. Michigan, Room 4081
Chicago, IL 60653
312-745-5607 ext.
Fax: 312-745-6832
clifton.underwood@chicagopolice.org  

The Youth Courts are monitored by a Police Officer and a Juvenile Detective for each area of the city. The adult volunteer moderators are held to high standards when it comes to legal and moral issues. Usually the moderator catches it, if not either the officers or myself will not allow it to leave the court unresolved.

The only similar case regarding religion, was when the request came from the mother of the child to attend church. The mother was told that this could not be a sanction set by the teen court, but the court could make a recommendation that the child abide by the parents rules and request for the period of 30 days. The child did go to church, and within 30 days, he returned to court and said that he liked it!

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Lee County Teen Court
Evelyn Kirbach
Teen Court Program Coordinator
20th Judicial Court Administrator's Office - Florida
1039 SE 9th Place, #361
Cape Coral, FL 33990
941-458-7084 ext.
Fax: 941-458-7083
ekirbach@ca.cjis20.org  

We have never had this situation.   Due to our "politically correct" society - we try to avoid this situation.  

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Sarah S. Pearson
American Youth Policy Forum
1836 Jefferson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-775-9731
www.aypf.org  

How inappropriate of the volunteer and how uncomfortable for the youth. A kind but firm assertion of why this behavior is inappropriate should be made to the volunteer and formally recorded for future reference. Also, some informal counseling should be given to the youth to make sure he/she is still okay with the program. That’s my opinion.

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Cattaraugus County Youth Court and Community Justice Program
Laurie Peterson
Program Coordinator
Cattaraugus County Youth Bureau
132 Main Street, Suite 1
Salamanca, NY 14779
716-945-5392 ext. 6205
Fax: 716-945-1296
LJPeterson@cattco.org
www.co.cattaraugus.ny.us  

I've never encountered the prayer issue. But I can understand how it could be very upsetting for the clients/parents. If one of my volunteers did that, they would be given a formal warning that if it ever happened again, they would be off the team. I would have been in immediate PR mode with the client/parents. I would hope that the client/parents would bring the issue to me right then and there. I would offer to reschedule them with a different defense rep if they wished.  I'm a god fearing person, but religion is a very personal thing.  We believe strongly enough in the philosophy of separation of church and state to have dropped the "so help me God" from the end of the process for swearing in a witness.

The prayer issue aside, I would consider it a problem if one of my volunteers "forced" the client to do anything. We stress that everyone is there on their own free will.

As far as the issue of "bad press", that could be very tricky considering the confidentiality issues involved. Better to do the damage control with the client before it gets that far.

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Wilson County Teen Court
Jon Herbert
Mediation Center of Eastern Carolina
113 Nash Street, Suite 205
Wilson, NC 27893
252-237-7061 ext.
Fax: 252-293-9969
jherbert@mceconline.org
www.mceconline.org  

Have not encountered such a situation, but if I did, I would swiftly decree that we cannot force anyone to pray.  I don't think there would be a problem with asking or inviting a client to pray, but prayer is not a requirement for the Teen Court offenders, and I see it as a conflict of interests (doesn't this violate the separation of church and state?).  The attorney's should be applauded for their strong faith, but warned that forcing it on clients does compromise the integrity of the program in the eyes of the public and can result in the dismissal of the volunteer.  The best way to handle negative press is to maintain the position that this is an infraction of your organization's policy, and it has been dealt with.  Be proactive.  If you foresee the actions of a volunteer compromising your organization's integrity and causing bad press, you must dismiss them immediately.  Then if there is any bad press, your organization can be covered.

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Green River Teen Court
Peggy Beckum
Municipal Judge
City of Green River
50 East Second Street North
Green River, WY 82935
307-872-6116 ext.
Fax: 307-872-0567
pbeckum@cityofgreenriver.org  

I have never had that request, but I am interested in receiving the responses.

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Anjanette Eash
Youth Court Coordinator
Tennessee Youth Court Program
Tennessee Bar Association
221 4th Ave. North, Suite. 400
Nashville, TN 37219
800-899-6993 ext. 233
Fax: 615-383-7504
a_eash@tnbar.org  

What about having a training session on religious diversity - surely there would be a divinity professor or multiple professors that would be willing to help explain the importance of religious freedom and the problems that come from forced participation. My knee-jerk response was to ask the volunteer to find a passage in the Bible where Jesus forced someone to pray with Him (because I don't think you'd find one).

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Alachua County Sheriff's Office Teen Court
Jason Holthus
Teen Court Coordinator
Alachua Co. Sheriff's Office
P.O. Box 1210
Gainesville, FL 32602-1210
352-367-4125 ext.
Fax: 352-374-1809
jholthus@alachuasheriff.org  

In the time that I have been with this program (five years), I have yet to encounter this type of situation at court. However, if it were brought to my attention I would certainly take action. Please keep in mind that I believe in the power of prayer but for a young volunteer to force a defendant/respondent to prayer with him/her is inappropriate. I would have a talk with that volunteer and explain to him/her that this type of behavior is inappropriate unless initiated by the defendant/respondent. Again, just my thoughts on the matter.

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Shasta County Youth/Peer Court
Candice Asnicar
Youth Violence Prevention Council of Shasta County
1700 Pine Street, Suite 250
Redding, CA 96001
530-244-7194 ext.
Fax: 530-244-6224
cmenoher@shastalink.k12.ca.us
yvpc@sbcglobal.net  

Not that we are aware of....

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Corpus Christi Teen Court, Inc.
Orlando Garcia
Executive Director
Martineau Juvenile Hall
2310 Gollihar Road
Corpus Christi, TX 78415
361-561-6079 ext.
Fax: 361-561-6076
garcia99@the-i.net

We have never encountered this situation.  We do accept community service done at local churches.  I think the key word in the situation as described is "forced".

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LaCrosse County Peer Court
Bobbie Tippery
Peer Court Coordinator
Boys & Girls Club of Greater LaCrosse
1331 Clinton St.
LaCrosse, WI 54603
608-784-3345 ext.
Fax: 608-782-3933
Bee85_@hotmail.com  

NO

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Lafayette Teen Court, Inc.
Linda Anson
Executive Director
Lafayette Teen Court, Inc.
P.O. Box 2666
Lafayette, LA 70502-2666
337-232-5977 ext.
Fax: 337-232-5375
ltc1@bellsouth.net  

We have not had that situation.

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Cabarrus County Teen Court
Cynthia Seaforth
Teen Court Coordinator
Cabarrus County Mediation Center, Inc.
P.O. Box 1222
77 Union Street, South
Concord, NC 28026-1222
704-786-1820 ext.
Fax: 704-721-3311
ccmctcp@ctc.net
http://www.nomoreconflict.org/tc.htm  

I have not had this situation to date. If I did, I would ask that they take this to another room, so as not to offend anyone else.

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La Pine Teen Court
Mary Fleischmann
Program Coordinator
Deschutes County Juvenile Community Justice
P.O. Box 2035
La Pine, OR 97739
541-536-5002 ext.
Fax: 541-536-1983
marye@deschutes.org  

I have not ever encountered this kind of situation, but I would think it crosses over between church and state. I had to remove "in god we trust" in some of my court documentation because it offended some defendants and their parents, and my youth volunteers thought it strange. My position would be that your volunteer needs to have a discussion about the inappropriateness of this.

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New Orleans Teen Court
Lorri Fentress
Executive Director
210 Baronne Street, Suite 1240
New Orleans, LA 70112
504-593-1818 ext.
Fax: 504-593-1824
lorrif@hotmail.com  

Never in my past 7-8 years.  We did have a juvenile court judge who is now in another city order the teenagers to attend church every Sunday in his judgments. 

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