Riverside, California has begun a unique approach to dealing with teen legal trouble. They literally face a jury of their peers–namely, other teens. In a program run by a family court judge and Riverside police, teens stand in front of other teens accused of their crimes and misdemeanors. They are defended by a teen defense attorney and prosecuted by a teen prosecuting attorney.
Anyone can ask questions during the trial, even the jury. The judge involved has noticed that kids involved in this program don’t end up in the system later; this process seems to nip it in the bud. The police remark that the program works because teens care what other teens think much more than they care what adults think. It uses peer pressure in a positive way.
In addition, teen juries tend to be harder on offenders than a family court judge or adult jury would be. They almost always push for the maximum possible sentence. The article doesn’t say this, but I expect that’s because when one teenager messes up, they all look bad.
When kids and parents agree to this process, it keeps their misdemeanors off their record. It can only be used for minor offenses, but the offenders are still obliged to follow through on their punishments, which usually include things like community service and serving on a peer jury in the future.
I think this is a pretty creative way to steer kids back onto the straight and narrow. These offenders are all first-time offenders with small-time offenses, so there’s really no reason to bog them down in the system at this point, especially not since there are so many serious crimes that have to go through juvenile and family courts.
I like to see this kind of creativity in the justice system, especially if it works. I’m really glad to see that other communities have similar programs in place, and I hope communities that don’t will look into it.
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- 14 Year Old May Be Tried as Adult
- North Carolina Judge Orders Homeschool Kids into Public School
