Council explores expanding alternative peer-youth court

DURING HIS Chester High School days, Brian Foster was disrespectful, often got into fights and eventually found himself in trouble when his friends went to settle a score for him.

He wouldn't snitch on them.

But then he got involved, at first reluctantly, with the Chester Upland Youth Court, in Chester.

"The Youth Court has opened doors and has given resources that the streets could never give to me," said Foster, who is now a rising sophomore at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. "It shows me the leadership potential that I never knew I had. I was once a troubled youth who turned into a leader."

At a hearing Tuesday sponsored by City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., Council examined how youth courts could reduce juvenile incarceration, recidivism rates, school violence and bullying. Youth courts resemble typical courtrooms and are alternative juvenile justice or school-based disciplinary systems, in which students are trained to hold hearings and sentence their peers for minor offenses like truancy or verbal disputes.

"If you can teach a healthy respect for peer justice, you then create a person who respects himself and others his age and just maybe they may listen to adults and authorities," Jones said. "And at the conclusion of their teen age, become citizens who respect the justice system."

Experts and city officials praised youth courts as a model that would keep youths out of the justice system while teaching them leadership skills. Some of the youths that participate in the programs wind up seeking a career in the court system.

Family Court Judge Kevin Dougherty said that punishment often nudges youths toward lives in which they end up in adult court and that teen courts can effectively steer kids in the right direction.

Youth courts were first introduced to Philadelphia schools by the Norris Square Neighborhood Project in 1999 and in 2004 the school district included Teen Court as an approved sanction for minor offenses, said Martin Nock, president and CEO of Communities in Schools of Philadelphia Inc. Youth courts operate in 49 states and the District of Columbia with more than 1,050 programs. Only 15 are in Pennsylvania.