Center Briefs
An Introduction to Youth Courts
This National Center Brief provides a basic overview of youth courts, how they work, what is known about their effect, how schools can work with youth courts, and how agencies or organizations can establish and operate youth courts.
Web Sites and Organizations
National Youth Court Center (Federal Youth Court Program)
(http://www.youthcourt.net/)
The Federal Youth Court Program/National Association of Youth Courts/National Youth Court Center is funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and several other federal agencies to provide training, technical assistance, and resources to youth courts. Among the resources found on its Youthcourt.net Web site are the following:
- A list of youth courts by state, as well as a list of Web sites maintained by youth courts
- Resources, including information for new youth court coordinators, sample youth court forms, sample program development materials, and information on state youth court associations
- In Session: the Federal Youth Court Program newsletter
- Online Trainings and Teleconferences, including “Getting the Most Out of the Deliberation Process,” “Preparing for Your Case,” “Making Evaluation for Youth Court Simpler Using Performance-Based Measures,” and “Effective Strategies for Youth Court Funding and Writing Grants”
- Resources for Youth Court volunteers
The National Youth Court Center offers a number of valuable publications, available free at http://www.youthcourt.net/content/view/74. These publications include the following:
- National Youth Court Guidelines - Tracy Godwin with Michelle Heward and Thomas Spina. These best practice guidelines were developed by a panel of experts in the following program areas: program planning and community organization, program staffing and funding, legal issues, identified respondent population and referral process, program services and sentencing options, volunteer recruitment and management, volunteer training, operations and case management, and program evaluation. Guidelines were developed to promote best practices, effectiveness, and program accountability.
- Peer Justice and Youth Empowerment: An Implementation Guide for Teen Court Programs – Tracy Mullins with David Steinhart and Betsy Fulton. This comprehensive guide can be used as a companion piece to the National Youth Court Guidelines (above). It includes chapters on the teen court concept, community organization, legal issues, program development, target populations and a referral process, program services, procedures and effective case management, volunteers, human and financial resources, and evaluation.
- An Update On Youth Court Legislation – Michelle Heward. An overview of state legislation authorizing, regulating, or otherwise pertinent to youth courts.
- Selected Topics On Youth Courts: A Monograph – edited by Tracy Mullins. An anthology on youth courts, including articles on truancy, underage drinking and substance abuse, program design options, tribal communities, associations and networking groups, and media access.
American Bar Association (http://www.abanet.org/)
The American Bar Association features a number of youth court resources, including a
Youth Court Training Package ($45) developed by the National Youth Court Center, that includes a guide for trainers of student volunteers, a video about youth courts, and handbooks for student volunteers for four different youth court models. These materials can be also purchased separately.
Youth court resources available free from the American Bar Association at no-cost include the following:
- Youth Courts: Young People Delivering Justice (http://www.abanet.org/justice/pdf/youthcourtsroadmap.pdf) – Margaret Fisher Chicago: American Bar Association, 2002.
This publication is an American Bar Association “Road Map”—part of a series of how-to publications to help communities, courts, and lawyers implement change in the justice system. It provides an overview of youth courts, including case studies, and information on how various actors (including the bar, law enforcement, school systems, and community groups) can play a role in operating youth courts. - Making Youth Courts As Effective As Possible (https://www.abanet.org/publiced/tab25.pdf) – Deborah Williams and James Wells. Chicago, American Bar Association, 2004 (Technical Assistance Bulletin No. 25).
A short publication about what makes youth courts work well.
Other Publications Available Online
The Impact of Teen Courts on Young Offenders (http://www.urbaninstitute.org/UploadedPDF/410457.pdf) – Jeffrey Butts, Janeen Buck, and Mark Coggeshall. Washington DC: Urban Institute, 2002.
A report of findings from the Evaluation of Teen Courts Project, which studied teen courts in four states. The study compared recidivism rates. The report also contains valuable information on models of teen courts, what makes teen courts effective, and case studies of some of the evaluated programs.
Youth Courts: A Community Solution for Embracing At-Risk Youth: A National Update. – Sarah Pearson and Sonia Jurich. American Youth Policy Forum: Washington, DC, 2005. Available through http://www.aypf.org/pressreleases/pr29.htm.
The report of a national study of the characteristics and benefits of youth court programs, including an overview of where teen courts are located, whom they serve, and how they operate as well as study findings about the effectiveness, costs, impact, and sustainability of youth court programs.
Youth Courts In Law-Related Education. ERIC Digest. (ED464023) – Paula Nessel. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, 2002. Available through http://www.eric.ed.gov/. An introduction to youth courts and the part they can play in law-related education.
