Topic: Youth Judges

Question:  I would like to hear from youth courts that use the Student/Judge model. We are currently using an adult judge model and are considering using students instead. How do other Teen Courts, recruit? What requirements do students need to meet in order to serve as judge? Are they trained by an attorney or adult judge? How often do they sit in that role? What exactly are the responsibilities of the student/judge? And how has it worked?

Responses from Coordinators:

Eric Watkins
Coordinator of Programming
Youth Services Unit
Owego Police Department
90 Temple Street
Owego, New York 13827
Phone: (607) 687-2233 Ext. 4
Fax: (607) 687-2235

The Owego Youth Court has been using Youth-As-Judges since its inception in 1999. Our court is a sentencing-only court with the jury assigning the sentence be it community service, apologies, or counseling, etc. Since we only serve the Village and it's environs; I recruit from our High School once a year by speaking to each of the 9th-11th grade Social Studies classes (we maintain a great relationship with our school district). While in our first year we only had 23 members, this year will top out at close to 80 (from a school population of 750). In order to serve on our court as a member volunteers must complete 12 hours of training, mock trials and an examination. Our trainers are from Probation, Family Court (Judge) and the District Attorney's Office (ADA). In addition we try to hold mock trials 1-2x's a year. After being trained I tend to wait until a member has experience in a few cases before trying utilizing them as a judge. The judge's role is to run the court, keep order and to review the assigned sentence for appropriateness. We have had no problems with Youth-As-Judges; our program is highly successful and well respected by our community and the county legal profession. Since 1999 the Owego Youth Court has a record of zero recidivism. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me directly.

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Amherst Youth Court
Michael Torrillo
Youth Court Coordinator
c/o Amherst Police Department
500 John J. Audubon Parkway
Amherst, NY 14228
Phone: (716) 689-1344
Fax: (716) 689-1310
mtorrillo@adelphia.net

Our Amherst Youth Court uses student Judges. The requirement for Judge is that they must be seniors in high school and held positions in other areas of the court. ex, prosecutor, defense attorney, baliff or clerk. All new applicants for our court go through a 3 weekend training session. We train new candidates for 3 hours each Saturday morning for three weekends during the summer. Then they are given a bar exam which they have to pass before becoming a member of the court. My training coordinator is a lawyer/Asst.High School Principal which works very well for our training purposes. The Student Judges sit on a rotating basis. Our court only held once a month due to our caseload. We feel the Student role of Judge works well for us. It has a great impact on the respondents and enables that many more students to participate in the proceedings.

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Joel Clouser
Justice Court2/YMCA Teen Court
Missouri City, TX
clousjoe@co.fort-bend.tx.us

Our teen court uses teen judges. A teen judge must have served and shown proficiency as an attorney and/or prosecutor for at least 2-years; this acts as an incentive for teens to participate and develope their skills as attorneys. Its an opportunity for a job promotion in teen court.  The teen judge moves the trial along in a timely fashion according to the trial procedure. If the attorneys are asking redundant questions and taking up too much time in their questioning, the teen judge can order them to wrap up their questioning. The teen judge must listen carefully to all questions and testimony during direct examination and cross examination of the witness/defendant so that he/she can effectively sustain or overrule objections. The teen judge also controls behavior in the courtroom during the teen court trial.

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Glen Cove Youth Court
Susan Altamore Carusi
Coordinator
City Court of Glen Cove
13 Glen Street
Glen Cove, NY 11542
Phone: (516) 676-0109
Fax: (516) 676-1570
SALTMORE@courts.state.ny.us

We use the student judge model in Glen Cove, and it works very well. The judges are students who have undergone the basic course of training, and who have volunteered to act as the judge. They undergo training for the judge's position with myself, as an attorney, and our Supervising Judge. They are trained to rule on objections and the introduction of evidence, how to conduct the hearing, and what to say to the jury at the opening of the hearing and at the "charge."

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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

Although I have been criticized for the use of Teen judges, I feel that Teen Courts can be quite effective in their use. We recruit from volunteers and they have to pass three (3) tests including a seven (7) page final with a score of at least 90%. At first I had other teens vote for the judges but that became too political. Now they must attain a certain degree of credibility from the other volunteers. They must know the process better than their peers. The skills required include objections, evidence submission, keeping order etc. The Adult judges often help with advice and are open to questions from teen judges. The Judges responsibilities are minimal. They rule on objections and keep the hearing serious. I am very interested in anyone who might have any data on effectiveness of teen judges. As yet we can say that no one has proved them to be inneffective. Why are we so reluctant to truly empower teens to have a say in this process. Or are we going to allow teens to be a part of the process only as long as we are comfortable with ADULT outcomes.

We do utilize teen judges. They have to pass a comprehensive 7-page test and jump through a few other hoops to be a judge. They are mentored by a local attorney and must build credibility among their peers. We recruit teen judges through our volunteer teens. We are in the process of attain college credit and believe this will help a great deal. We use a teen judge periodically but not always. Their responsibilities are to rule on objections, understand the process, and keep order in the courtroom. So far it has worked well despite criticism from other teen courts. It is important not to turn teen courts into something not taken seriously by the defendants. I believe this can easily be accomplished by the use of a teenager. I challenge any other program to demonstrate ineffectiveness with use of a teen judge!

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Cattaraugus County Youth Court
Laurie Peterson
Youth Court Program Coordinator
100 Main Street, Suite 1
Salamanca, NY 14779
Phone: (716) 945-5392 ext. 6205
Fax: (716) 945-1296
laurpe@sal.cattco.org

Yes, we use a Team member in the role of Judge. We use the Judge/Jury model for our hearings. In our programs, respondents must be willing to admit culpability if they are going to elect to have a Youth Court hearing. It is the Jury of Peers that determine the sanctions, therefore the primary role of the Judge is to conduct the hearing. After repeating the sentence to the respondent, in most cases our judges will give the respondent a brief summary such as "And I think this is a fair sentence because you..." and then closes by asking the respondent if they" understand that if you fail to complete your sanctions as instructed...." I believe it has a powerful impact on the respondents when the "judge" enters the courtroom in black robe with gavel in hand. That seems to be the point where the respondent really sits up and takes notice that this no joke.... that they may be kids, but they are all business. All youth who go through the Team Member Training are prepared to handle all positions in the courtroom, including Judge.

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