VOLUNTEER-STAFFED TEEN COURT OFFERS THE OFFENDER JUSTICE WITH UNDERSTANDING

"Court is now in session."

There is a judge behind the bench, a panel of jurors off to the side and two attorneys representing the defense and prosecution. But the judge is the only adult in the proceedings.

This is Teen Court, where kids ages 12 to 17 determine the fate of their peers.

Recently, Y-Press interviewed volunteers Brittany Brown, 14; Crystal Brown, 15; Bryan Sanders, 14; Katie Anderson, 15; and Rafael Hernandez, 13, to find out more about the program. The kids have been volunteering at Teen Court for two to three years and serve as attorneys.

Crystal explained why she joined: "Because it helps out people. It makes them want to change habits, behaviors, and lets them know that some people do care about them."

Teen Court is run by Reach for Youth, a youth-serving agency, and is an authorized juvenile justice diversion program for the Indiana juvenile courts in Marion and Johnson counties. First-time offenders who have pleaded guilty can be sentenced to Teen Court instead of going to juvenile court. If a youth completes the sentence, the offense is taken off his or her permanent record. Court is held in Marion and Johnson counties several evenings per month.

CRYSTAL: What Teen Court is is giving teens another chance.

KATIE: If you are tried at juvenile (court), you can get jail time, and that is one major difference between Teen Court and juvenile.

BRYAN: I think Teen Court's purpose is to rehabilitate people and to have them learn from their mistakes.

KATIE: The rehabilitation works better because it is coming from people your own age. . . . Typical Teen Court offenders have been charged with theft, truancy, driving without a license, underage drinking, curfew violation, possession of alcohol or marijuana, and battery.

RAFAEL: I see lots of theft. I have been here two years and I have only had two batteries.

BRYAN: Ninety-nine percent of the time it is theft.

BRITTANY: I have had some very, very rough cases. We were sitting in here maybe a month ago (with a defendant) and he didn't cuss, but he said words that you usually don't say in front of your parents. Everyone kept looking at him like, "What is going on?"

CRYSTAL: The one that really made me upset was one that we had last week. It was a little boy about 11 and he was not bad. He hit his mom. But there was a lot more to it than him just hitting his mom. When (another volunteer) was interviewing him earlier, he sat and cried for two hours straight. And then when I was interviewing him, he cried, too.

BRITTANY: He was not bad. His mom was like real cold-hearted.

RAFAEL: My worst case was I had a kid with multiple personalities. He beat his mom's boyfriend up and he didn't know he did it. Then his mom gave him tranquilizers before he came to court, so he almost passed out when I was talking with him.

The teens said there is an even mixture of kids from inner-city and suburban areas, but they do see more boys than girls. Sentences include community service, special educational groups, essays, apologies, restitution and counseling. Offenders also can be assigned to sit on a jury.

CRYSTAL: Boys are a lot more bold in what they do than females.

The most that I have seen from girls is fights. Boys tend to do a lot more.

BRYAN: I think it is about an even balance of boys and girls that come here. But most of the cases where there have been things stolen, especially large items like cars and stuff, it is mostly boys.

BRITTANY: (Girls) will steal, but they will steal like a bracelet, a ring, an outfit. They won't go so far as stealing a Viper.

Teen Court volunteers are trained by Reach for Youth employees and practicing attorneys. Depending on the courtroom role, training varies.

KATIE: The defense gets to talk to the defendant beforehand. The guidelines are you have to make the defendant look good, like their character, and then the prosecutor tries to make them look bad, like bad grades, a tendency to yell at people, a tendency to snap. The prosecutor doesn't get to talk to the person beforehand.

CRYSTAL: What I do is basically let (defendants) know that there is nobody in (court) that is going to hurt you or intimidate you, and so I start joking with them. . . . By the time they come in here, they are a lot more loosened up and they are not as intimidating to other people, and they are more respectful.

KATIE: There are people that come in here, they don't take it as seriously as they would at juvenile. Like in real juvenile, they would normally be respectful to the judge, they would answer all the questions from both sides; but here, all you get from them is like a "Yeah," "Whatever."

BRITTANY: They don't really realize that if you come in here with a bad attitude, the jury will have a bad attitude.

RAFAEL: (Sentencing is decided) by a unanimous vote of the jury. Attorneys don't have anything to do with it.

The teens say volunteering for Teen Court provides personal, as well as professional, benefits.

KATIE: You get to stand up there and talk in front of a room full of people every time, and so it helps with confidence.

RAFAEL: Teen Court looks good on your college application. . . . I got to go to Indiana University attorney meetings and a bunch of different stuff.

BRYAN: My favorite part of Teen Court is getting to meet new people, and you learn that you can do things that you thought you couldn't do before.

For more information on volunteering for Teen Court, contact Reach for Youth at 920-5900, or look up its Web site at www. reachforyouth.org.

REPORTERS: Jennifer Maberto, 12; Abby Rivin, 12; Robin Wetherill, 11; Claire Lovell, 10; and Haejin Nishio, 10.