Youth courts are an innovative quasi-legal forum in which adolescents pass judgment on their peers in cases involving relatively minor offenses. These courts hold much promise to benefit offending youth, the youthful volunteers who participate in the adjudicative process, the traditional juvenile court system, victims, and surrounding communities. Based on a survey completed of the fortytwo youth courts operating in New York State, this article describes the diverse and overlapping objectives, target populations, and operating procedures of the youth tribunals. It discusses the interrelated nature of youth court goals, subjects, and procedures, and offers general prescriptions for the more effective design and operation of youth courts.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.