Teen Court: A National Movement
How Do Lawyers, Judges, and the Bar Support Teen Courts?
Lawyers, judges, and bar associations perform an important role in the creation and
maintenance of teen courts. They serve on advisory boards, assist in drafting policies and
procedures, file for incorporation, train volunteers about the justice system, coach
student attorneys on trial skills, act as judges, and organize fund-raising. Lawyers
supporting teen courts on a national scale include NHTSA Deputy Administrator Philip R.
Recht in the U.S. Department of Transportation and OJJDP Administrator Shay Bilchik and
Deputy Administrator John J. Wilson in the Department of Justice. Other major supporters
of teen courts include Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Robert F. Stephens, who spearheaded
the establishment of teen courts in his state; Michele Heward, criminal justice instructor
at Weber State University in Utah; Frederic B. Rodgers, Presiding Judge of Westminster
(Colorado) Municipal Court; Jonathan Cole and Scott Carey, members of a large Nashville
(Tennessee) law firm; J. Dale Durrance, Judge of the Tenth Judicial Circuit of Florida;
William Pericak, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York; Fredric J.
Ammerman, Judge of the Forty-sixth Judicial District of Pennsylvania; and Bree Buchanan,
formerly a legal-aid attorney in central Texas, now in private practice in Austin.
Bar associations, bar foundations, and young lawyer affiliates have been instrumental
in establishing, supporting, and promoting teen courts. The Young Lawyers Division of the
American Bar Association promoted teen courts with their 1987 publication, Teen Court:
Preventing Recidivism of Teenage Crime and Drug Abuse. The Young Lawyers spearheaded the
American Bar Association's 1995 resolution* encouraging support for
teen courts. State and local bar associations and foundations, such as the Young Lawyers
Division of the Anchorage Bar Association in Alaska; the Young Lawyers Section of the Palm
Beach County Bar Association in Florida; the Austin Young Lawyers Association in Texas;
the Young Lawyers Division of the Nashville Bar Association; the Law, Youth, and
Citizenship Program of the New York State Bar Association; and the Wyoming State Bar Foundation, were instrumental in the
creation and support of local teen courts. The Division for Public Education of the
American Bar Association has served as a national clearinghouse for teen courts since 1991
and has extensively promoted teen courts through its National Law-Related Education
Resource Center, LRE conferences, and publications.
*RESOLVED
, That the American Bar Association
encourages state and territorial legislatures, court systems, and bar associations to
support and assist in the formation and expansion of diversionary programs, known as Youth
Courts, where juvenile participants, under supervision of volunteer attorneys and advisory
staff, act as judges, jurors, clerks, bailiffs, and counsel for first time juvenile
offenders who are charged with misdemeanors and consent to the program.
Adopted by the ABA House of Delegates August 9, 1995.
>>What are teen courts?
>>The Growth of Teen Courts
>>The Major Models
>>Steps for Implementing a Teen Court
>>Teen Courts and Law-Related Education
>>Delinquency Prevention; The Educational Role
>>Training
>>Profile: Salt Lake City's Peer Court
>>Student Courts
>>How Do Lawyers, Judges, and the Bar Support Teen Courts?
>>Profile: A Lawyer's Inside View of Teen Court
>>Profile: The Wyoming Bar and Teen Court
>>Evaluation
>>Funding
>>Conclusion and References
>>Resources and Additional Information
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