Teen Court Program Kicks Off In Yankton County

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

In order to give teens a taste of justice and responsibility, the Boys and Girls Club of South Dakota recently brought its teen court program to Yankton County.

“It’s basically a juvenile diversion program offered to first-time offenders and put on by teens for teens,” said Kelsie Thoreson, teen court coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club of Yankton, Moody and Brookings counties. “Teens play the roles of the jury and attorneys, and then we also have a local adult attorneys that serves as the judge for the court. There is also a real bailiff present and we have an adult jury monitor to make sure the jury members are staying on task and within their guidelines.”

She added that the court is for sentencing only, meaning teens can only be a part of the program if they admit guilt to their offenses. If a teenage defendant successfully completes the program, they will have no juvenile record of the offense.

Volunteers in the teen court program also experience several benefits.

“It’s great for teenagers that volunteer for their public speaking,” Thoreson said. “It also gives them more of a knowledge about formal court and the court setting itself. We also have a number of incentives built in for youth volunteers that commit for a given amount of time.”

Some of the incentives for volunteers include teen court sweatshirts and name tags for all volunteers.

For defendants in the program, part of their sentencing requirements includes them having to be a member of the jury for up to six sessions. Jury members in their trial determine the number of sessions in which the defendants must participate.

In addition, defendants must complete several Community Action Points (CAPs) within 120 days of sentencing.

“The jury must decide how many CAPs a defendant must complete,” Thoreson said. “It’s on a point system, and there are a number of things a defendant can do to get all their points. If they do one of the activities with their parents, it doubles the amount of point for that activity.”

She added that CAPs are not equal to hours, and each activity is given a point amount.

So far, Thoreson said the program has made an impression on the teenagers who participate in it.

“The program really has a lot of positive impacts associated with it,” she said. “Our re-offender rates have dropped for those that complete the program — there is a 90 percent chance they won’t re-offend by the time they turn 18.”

She added that the program is also very family-oriented, which is another benefit for defendants and their family members.

“Most of the time for the cases that we deal with, there has been trust broken between the parents and child, so we work on things they can do with their parents to work together,” Thoreson said. “We work on re-establishing that trust and restoring the bond so the program impacts families in a positive way as well.”

The first teen court trial was held in Yankton on March 18, and trials are held on the first and third Mondays of each month at the courthouse. Volunteers also participated in a mock trial this past Monday night.

“The mock trial served as good practice for our youth volunteers since we’re just starting and it’s only the second court night,” Thoreson said. “On April 15, we’ll have two court hearings and we want to keep it to a maximum of three or four trials each court night.”

There are currently 12 teen court programs across South Dakota.

“Kids really think the program is cool and exciting,” Thoreson said. “They got really interested and into it during their training. Two Mondays ago for our first hearing, our youth attorneys showed up and said they didn’t get any sleep the night before because they were so nervous for their trials.”

Although there are a lot of cases the teen court can handle, some are kept in the hands of the formal court system.

“State Attorney Rob Klimisch works with me to decide which cases the teen court will handle, and which the formal court will take,” Thoreson said.

There is a three-strike rule in place for teenagers participating in the program. If they don’t show up for something or do not get their work completed, they are given a strike. After three strikes, their cases will be moved back into the formal court.

“My goal is to have the court be successful and professional,” Thoreson said. “I want to promote a professional atmosphere and make sure it stays like that.”

Teenagers interested in volunteering for teen court can contact Thoreson at kthoreson@greatfuturessd.org or contact the Yankton County Boys and Girls Club at 668-9710.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal