Topic: Teen Court for Civil Cases

Question: We received a request to send out the following question via our Coordinators' Email Group.  Please respond if you have any information that would be helpful.  Thank you.

Hello,
I was hoping that someone out there might be able to provide some input if they have heard of a similar court happening. Our Teen Court Youth Advisory Board was interested in starting up a Teen Court for Civil Cases.  The goal would to have two disputing parties bring their issue to the Teen Civil Court, and they would abide by the resolution set forth by the teen jury panel.  For example, one person bought a motorcycle from another person.  No payment was made, and thus the issue escalated into a fight, and one person was charged with Assault and Battery.  Rather then having the issue escalate to violence, the two parties could have gone to Teen Civil Court, argued their points and have a teen jury panel come up with a compromise. There are a lot of holes to be filled, for example, what happens when a party does not abide by the court set agreement, and would teens actually utilize this option.  I would appreciate any insight other Teen
Court programs may have on this issue.

Responses from Coordinators:

Elizabeth Adams
Statewide Expansion Coordinator
Office of Safe Schools and Youth Services
SC Department of Education
1429 Senate Street
Columbia, SC 29201
803-734-5801
Fax: 803-734-0806
eadams@sde.state.sc.us

In SC, our youth courts have been limited to hearing criminal violations, truancy and other school based offenses.

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Midland Teen Court
Mary Beck
Executive Director
Midland Teen Court, Inc.
615 West Missouri, #226
Midland, TX 79701-5017
432-689-1065 ext.
Fax: 432-689-1087
mbeck@midlandteencourt.org
www.midlandteencourt.org

I haven't heard of any such operation; it would be interesting to hear any details.

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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 a local program called "Dispute Resolution" that handles situations like these.  This program is in the local schools along with Corpus Christi Teen Court.  For more info, call 361-888-0650 to reach the "Dispute Resolution" Services in Corpus Christi, TX.  Good Luck with the project!

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Duncanville Teen Court
Olivia Harrington
Teen Court Coordinator
City of Duncanville
P.O. Box 380280
Duncanville, TX 75138-0280
972-780-5063 ext.
Fax: 972-780-6463
oharrington@ci.duncanville.tx.us
www.Duncanville.com/teen_court.shtm

This sounds like a case for Peer Mediation. Duncanville ISD has this in their schools.

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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  

Because of the monetary amount - the parents would have to be involved and I feel that it would not be appropriate for Teen Court.  It would be difficult to handle restitution in our Teen Court Program.  

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Kitsap County Youth Court
Pam Martin
Coordinator
Kitsap County Juvenile Department
1338 SW Old Clifton Road
Port Orchard, WA 98366
360-337-5409 ext.
Fax: 360-337-5404
pmartin@co.kitsap.wa.us

We would refer this matter to Dispute Resolution where they have extensive training in dealing with these issues.  We also use them for issues between parents and kids

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Hedwig Village Teen Court
Lisa Reed
Program Coordinator
955 Piney Point Road
Houston, TX 77024
713-465-6009 ext.
Fax: 713-465-6807
hedwigteencourt@yahoo.com

Sounds interesting, let us know what happens.

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Amherst Youth Court
Michael Torrillo
Coordinator
Amherst Police Department
500 John James  Audobon Parkway
Amherst, NY 14228
716-689-1344 ext.
Fax: 716-568-1182
mtorrillo@adelphia.net

Our County (Erie) is in the process of collecting data for those reasons right now. They have developed the software and are collecting data from the law enforcement agencies in the county. Once that is completed they will begin working on Family Court and Probation. The last piece will be Child Protection. Once all the data is compiled we will have a complete background of the respondent and what steps were taken to deal with the issues.

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Youth Court of Jefferson County
Michael Vincent
Youth Court Director
The Resolution Center of Jefferson and Lewis Counties
200 Washington Street, Suite 207
Watertown, NY 13601
315-785-0333 ext.
Fax: 315-785-0322
youthcrt@imcnet.net
www.jefflewismediation.org

As part of our Youth Court sentencing options we’ve included mediation.  The intent is to enable young people to work through their problem(s) together rather than resorting to violence etc...  .  Our Youth Court is part of a bigger agency which involves mediation services and so... it’s sort of an in house kind of solution.  Mediation is voluntary and while it is suggested by the panel of judges usually a couple of community service hours are in play for an earnest effort. 

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Wichita County Teen Court
Myra Ann Weeks
Coordinator
900 Seventh Street, Room 212
Wichita Falls, TX 76301
940-716-8575 ext.
Fax: 940-716-8598
Myra.Weeks@co.wichita.tx.us

This is a tough one.  In Texas a youth does not have the right to enter into a contract agreement, (promissory note), until they are 18 and no longer a teen.   BUT, given that it sounds like you are looking for peer mediation.  Our juries have sent people to peer mediation through the program set up in our schools.  If the parties do not abide by the agreement, then they face whatever criminal charges are pending, (assault charge).  If they abide by the agreement for a specified amount of time, the citation or charges are dismissed.  This only applies to Class C, minor misdemeanor.  Anything more serious is handled through juvenile probation and any option is removed due to the sanctions model Texas follows.

Now this is the way things are handled in Wichita County, Texas.  Teen Court is such a diverse thing that other courts may have other options.

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