According to the Pennsylvania American Bar Association, there are more than 1,150 youth courts operating in 49 States and the District of Columbia. Youth courts, also known as teen courts, are student run alternatives to the juvenile or criminal justice system.
Their primary purpose is to successfully divert youth from the formal juvenile or criminal justice system. This is exactly what many labeling theorists say we should do with young people who get into trouble. Why? Because most of them never get into trouble again and we need to avoid labeling them as "bad kids" and risk making things worse for them in the future,
Please click on the following link and watch the mock trial put together by a school based disciplinary youth court in Chester,
Pennsylvania: stoneleighfoundation.org/content/how-run-youth-court
Do you think it is a good idea to divert most youth from the formal juvenile or criminal justice system to a youth court? Why or why not?