Youth court is now in session

If you commit a crime, who do you expect to defend you in court? Generally you would imagine an adult, but Memphis Youth Court is changing this assumption. You can now have a peer, maybe even your best friend, plead your case.

“Youth Court is a peer-justice program where teenagers take the roles of defending and prosecuting attorneys, and even the bailiff, to determine proper sentences for minor first time infractions,” teen attorney John McKissack (11) said.

Youth Court is an opportunity for the teen attorneys to set a positive example and to help juveniles who could possibly go down the wrong path. This process of peer mentoring and rehabilitation is called restorative justice.

To make sure the process is legal, consent from the juvenile’s parent is needed beforehand. Once the parents agree the teen attorneys can begin work on the case. With the guidance of professional attorneys, the teen attorneys prepare their defense to help juveniles who have committed misdemeanors get a lesser sentence such as community service, counseling essays or written apologies.

To take on these cases, the teen attorneys have had to prepare extensively. At the beginning of the program the Youth Court leaders teach the teens the basics and have practice trials for mock cases. In Youth Court the trials proceed just as they would in an ordinary court, just with teens in place of the attorneys, bailiffs, court clerks and jury members.

Youth Court not only benefits the defendants, but also the teen attorneys. The teens come together from all over Memphis to participate in this program.

“I have already met people from all across the city which is just a pleasure because I not only have friend from White Station, but also Cordova, Central, Collierville and Bartlett,” McKissack said.

This program also provides teen attorneys an opportunity to explore a career in law and gives a different perspective of life.

“I am a lot more grateful for what I have,” McKissack said. “Seeing what the defendants have had to endure in their lives is such a stark contrast to that which I and many of my friends have lived.”