Teen Court

Pima County Teen Court is a non profit organization that educates juveniles about the law and the consequences that come with the breaking of the law. Its a diversion program to help kids under the age of eighteen who have committed different types of misdemnors(from shoplifting, to assualt or drug abuse) understand not only how harmful those acts are to themselves but how they affect the rest of the community. For this reason after a kid gets arrested they have the option of attending Tenn Court, in they choose to do so and comply with the others terms and conditions of the program thier record will be cleared at the age of eighteen. The teens who go through this program are tried in a real courtroom,It is then that under the supervision of an adult judge or magistrate Teen attorneys(volunteers) defend or prosecute the juvenile previously arrested.The objective of the trial is not to punish the offender but to give him/her a constructive sentence that will educate/divert the defendant from ever committing a crime again. The jurors in the trial are ethier teen volunteers or previous defendants that have gone through the Teen Court process. The sentence mainly consist of workshops, community service and other types of constructive programs such as: self - improvement/appriciation therapy for kids who demonstrate self esteem/peer pressure issues. or Anger mangament courses for those who committed midemenors related to short temper/domestic violence ect... It is for all these reasons and many more that I believe that Teen Court and its volunteers make a difference.