Clinton County Youth Court seeking new members

Robin Caudell, The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
·5 min read

Jun. 24—PLATTSBURGH — The Clinton County Youth Court is looking for youths for an upcoming new member training.

Youths in grades 7-12 can become a member of a court that tries real cases for juveniles who have committed offenses within the community.

"The Clinton County Youth Court Program is a diversionary program for first time offending juveniles (ages 13-17) that kind of make a mistake in the community," Christopher Wiley, youth coordinator, said.

"The Youth Court is an actual courtroom that is made up of youth from all over the county. I have members from every school, and they actually try real cases for their peers. They fulfill all roles of the courtroom, so the judge, attorneys, the jury, the court bailiff, they are all youth."

The Court accepts violations, misdemeanors, and low-level felonies. Youth Court has tried offenses such as but not limited to: petit and grand larceny, burglary, criminal mischief, vandalism, and harassment, according to a press release.

Non-criminal cases are also taken into the program if deemed appropriate by Wiley.

To be eligible for the program, the youth must admit to the offense. If the case is accepted into the program, a hearing is held in which trained youth, known as Youth Court Members, fill courtroom roles such as defense and prosecuting attorneys, judge, clerk/bailiff, and jury members.

At the end of the hearing, the jury members determine an appropriate sentence for the offending youth based on the information presented. The goal of the program is to prevent delinquency through positive peer influence.

The program has been in existence since the early '90s.

"Youth courts are national," Wiley said.

"They are all across New York State. Not all counties have Youth Courts. I think the closest one to us is Warren County."

Thus far, the Youth Court has tried 20 cases this year.

SENTENCE

A Youth Court sentence always includes anywhere between five and 25 hours of community service and one to two jury duties.

The sentence may also include:

—Letters of Apology

—Essay Assignment

—Educational Classes (i.e. Peer Pressure, Anger Management, Alcohol Education,

Vaping/Smoking Education.)

The Youth Court Coordinator may also implement other restorative programming if they feel it necessary.

All community service hours are scheduled and performed with the Project Coordinator. Hours are scheduled after school on week nights and on Saturdays. Community service hours are often completed with Members and Offenders working together on projects.

Examples of community services sites include: The Salvation Army, St. Joseph's Community Outreach Center, JCEO, Samuel F. Vilas Home. Youth Court also attends events throughout the year such as Hospice Light Up a Life, numerous Youth Bureau events. In the summer, Youth Court also has garden plots where they plant and grow produce that is donated to local food pantries.

Quite often Youth Court can be seen walking around the City of Plattsburgh and the parks picking up trash.

TO JOIN

Youth Court members are Clinton County youth in grades 7-12 who have attended a multiple day youth court training. Once trained, youth are part of a pool of Youth Court members from all school districts within Clinton County. Youth from this pool are assigned to hearings by the Project Coordinator.

Members run the courtroom by filling all of the roles including clerk/ bailiff, judge, prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, jury foreperson and juror.

Youth must be willing to make a voluntary commitment to the program for one year. Besides participating in hearings, members are required to participate in at least five Youth Court sponsored community services activities a year.

Through training and participating in the program members develop:

—Public speaking and presentation skills

—Individual and group decision making skills

—An understanding of their civic responsibilities

—Knowledge of the criminal and juvenile justice systems

All time spent participating in the Clinton County Youth Court Program is a service to the

community. The Project Coordinator keep a detailed log of all events, hearings and meetings attended by each member. At any time, a member can request their community service hours that can be used towards other clubs (Key Club, National Honor Society, etc.) as well as any school classes that require community service hours.

"They just have to sign up," Wiley said.

"There is an application. I send all the information out to schools. There is a link on our Facebook page that will bring the kids over to an online application. It's just a Google form. They can fill it out, and as soon as they submit it, it gets emailed to me. They can also email me for an application or they can swing by the office."

The office is located on the second floor of the Surrogate Building, located at 135 Margaret St., Plattsburgh.

"The doors says Youth Court and Youth Bureau, because I am part of the Youth Bureau," Wiley said.

"I do two trainings a year. I always do one in the winter and that one is usually a little bit more widely attended. It's usually a two-day training, sometimes I can one really, long day. The trainings are pretty so the members really fully understand what the program is, what it looks like, and a lot of information on the juvenile justice system so they kind of understand everything because all the youths that go through my program are referred to me usually from law enforcement or Probation."

Christopher.wiley@clintoncountyny.gov

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell