NORTH HILLS : In This Court, Teen-Agers Are Judged by Peers

Nobody understands a teen-ager quite like a teen-ager.

That’s the philosophy 17-year-old Jaime B. embraced after being arrested last month for breaking windows while skipping school. The Sylmar teen-ager chose Teen Court over Juvenile Court, agreeing to allow a jury of her peers to determine her fate.

Burdened with a heavy sentence--including 150 hours of community service, an assignment to write a one-page essay and instructions to check in with a counselor at school every day--Jaime walked out of the wood-paneled courtroom at James Monroe High School on Tuesday, still convinced she made the right decision.

“It’s easier to talk to teen-agers than adults,” Jaime said. “I’d rather go through this than (Juvenile Court). They probably have friends that went through it.”

As part of a program begun last year at Wilson High School in Los Angeles, Jaime was one of four first-time juvenile criminal offenders to face their peers in the courtroom at Monroe’s law and government magnet program Tuesday. The school has hosted the proceedings about every other week since February.

A jury of six students listened to each defendant’s testimony, asked questions, then handed down a punishment they deemed appropriate, which then had to be approved by the judge.

Superior Court Judge Jaime R. Corral, who started Teen Court in Los Angeles County, said he hopes to expand it to two more schools this year.

“It’s an educational process for everyone,” Corral said. “It’s a form of peer counseling and peer pressure.”

Founded in Odessa, Tex., in 1983, Teen Court has expanded to at least 10 states, including California. It is the subject for a television program set up by Group W Television, a division of the Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., which videotaped a pilot for a proposed show.

“We think like each other,” said Robin Ramey, 16, who was the jury forewoman in Jamie’s case. “We know how people get out of things and into things. We are there.”

Under what is called diversion assigned by her peers, if Jamie adheres to the punishment, stays in school and out of trouble for six months, her record will be clean. A sentence handed down by a Juvenile Court usually remains on the offender’s record.