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Teen Court: Prosecution by Peers
| Article
# : |
13137 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1987 |
2,148 Words |
| Author
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Gail Burke
Gail Burke, the city editor of the Odessa American, Texas, is
the mother of two teenagers. She has also written articles
for
California Business Magazin |
Joe is the man of the house. He is fourteen years old. When his family was robbed at gunpoint, Joe knew he had to take action so it would never happen again. Joe decided he needed a gun - not a real gun, but a pellet gun designed to look like a .357 Magnum. But his nickels and dimes did not add up to enough cash. Joe decided to take advantage of a five-finger discount.
On a searing Texas summer night, he went to a local shopping mall. Joe left his friends, found the gun in a discount store, and stole it. Armed with his pellet gun and a new sense of security, he walked past the security he walked past the security alarm system and was apprehended immediately.
Joe pleaded guilty to shoplifitng, with his mother's consent. But instead of wading though the mire of paperwork and court appearances common to the nation's juvenile justice systems, Joe opted for Odessa, Texas' Teen Court. This program's philosophy is that an adolescent who breaks the law will not be a repeat offender if a jury of his peers - other teenagers instead of adults - decides the punishment to fit the crime. The jury made up of teens does not decide innocence or guilt; it only metes the sentence for the offender.
Odessa's Junior League researched youth programs in other cities in Texas and Colorado. The league then approached Natalie Rothstein to be coordinator for the program.
Rothstein, a diminutive sixty-year-old who barely stretches five feet tall in high heels, worked as a liaison between the mental health and mental retardation organizations and two local law enforcement agencies. This included supervising a suicide hotline; many of the callers were teenagers. "The Junior League and I sat down with all of this and put together what we felt would work," recalls Rothstein.
Joe's trial
Joe's case was argued in a real district court, with a retired seventy-seven-year-old judge presiding over teenage defense and prosecuting attorneys, and a teen jury.
Joe testified that his actions were justified because he was trying to defend his family. But the jury saw differently.
During the trial, sixteen-year-old Chris Vore, the prosecuting attorney, asked: "Did you think it was
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