NCJ Number
166152
Date Published
1994
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the results of an evaluation of two Kentucky teen courts.
Abstract
Teen court provides first-time juvenile offenders charged with minor offenses an opportunity to participate in a less formal court process. In teen courts only the judge is an adult. Young persons perform the duties of attorneys, bailiffs, clerks, and jurors and conduct a trial session similar to the sentencing process in adult court. Teen court is based on the premise that the same force that leads youth into lawbreaking behavior, i.e., peer pressure, can be redirected to become a force that leads youth to law-abiding behavior. In Kentucky, youth who complete the constructive sentence assigned by the teen jury do not receive a formal court record. The evaluation of the Kentucky teen courts in Scott County and Franklin County used an attitude survey administered in a pretest/posttest format. Additional sources of information, including interview and observation, were collected to secure multiple sources of information. Findings show that the teen courts in the two counties apparently have had a positive impact on the participants. The substantial increase in favorable ratings from pretest to posttest show significant attitudinal change among teen court participants. After completing the training, teen court participants had a more positive attitude toward those in positions of authority within the legal system and toward authority figures in general. 9 references and appended data