Teen Court Gives Youths Lesson in Law

The defendant admitted his guilt. The jury imposed punishment.

A curfew. An essay on goals. A written apology to Mom.

But the six teenage jurors who had deliberated for 20 minutes in a classroom at Woodrow Wilson High School weren’t finished with the young graffiti vandal.

“Why is it that you didn’t do your homework?” one demanded. “Is it because you were just lazy?”

“It was because I was lazy,” George confessed.

“In your opinion, do you need tutoring?” asked another juror.

“Yes,” the youth replied.

Jurors added tutoring, another essay and continued community service to the penalty.

George was one case on a recent docket of Los Angeles Teen Court, a decade-old experiment in juvenile justice in which willing teenagers submit themselves to a verdict of their peers.

Court officials say Teen Court defendants are less likely to offend again than those who go through the regular juvenile court system.

Sucely Manrique, a juror and senior at Wilson High, explained why it works.

“We can understand each other because they’re young like us,” she said.

The program has proven effective, according to Phill Egans, a deputy probation officer who helped start it.

“These are cases that don’t really need to go to juvenile court,” Egans said. “But [the teenagers] need some accountability.”

The rules are simple: Those ages 13 to 18 accused of first-time misdemeanor offenses submit their cases to a jury of their peers. They do not have to admit guilt. There are no attorneys.

The cases are referred by the Los Angeles County Probation Department, and selections are made by the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Police Explorers or Junior ROTC cadets usually act as bailiffs. Professionals such as judges, commissioners and probation officers volunteer. To participate, teenagers and their parents must agree to waive their right to confidentiality.

The advantage for young offenders is avoiding a juvenile record.

According to the National Youth Court Center, there are about 900 such courts nationwide in 46 states. Some use peer juries; others use adult or youth judges.

The other teen courts in Los Angeles County are a community-based program in South Los Angeles, at Dorsey High School in South Los Angeles, and in the Pomona Unified School District. Since beginning in 1999, the Pomona court has heard 109 cases and has drawn an average crowd of 200, said Mike Russo, site coordinator. More than 4,500 students have participated.

“It’s a tremendous lesson in citizenship that [students] wouldn’t ordinarily have until much later, if they get served with jury duty,” said Superior Court Commissioner Martha Bellinger, who acts as a judge for Pomona Teen Court.

After defendants complete the punishments ordered, they return to court to serve as jurors.

“It makes them feel a part of what’s going on instead of victims of the legal system,” said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley.

Judges and probation officers say Teen Court has a recidivism rate of 4% -- less than half of that for other diversion programs.

Despite that success, organizers say they’ve had trouble finding enough volunteers. Because the program is run on a volunteer basis, there are no costs.

At one point it had eight sites, said Mirtha Hernandez, a judicial secretary who acts as Teen Court coordinator. Organizers said several sites failed because of a lack of resources, including support from nearby probation offices.

And judges are occasionally hard to come by, said Wesley, who serves as a judge at Dorsey High School.

“I have to hunt down judges [who] are willing to give up their time,” Wesley said.

“With funding, the program could really go forward,” Egans said.

He said seeking a source of permanent funding has been considered, but that the probation department is reluctant to shoulder financial responsibility for another program.

“If the funding runs out,” Egans said, “probation has to eat” the costs.

At Wilson High, students believe Teen Court is a necessary option.

“It’s an opportunity to do better,” said Manrique, the teenage juror.

“It’s letting people participate [who] want to come and learn from others’ actions,” said Jonathan Rodriguez, a teen bailiff.