2023 Peer Court Auction

Danville, Ill. (WCIA)

Juvenile Justice Diversion Programming

Peer Court diverts kids from the regular court system and provides community based programming. Youth must take responsibility for their actions, go through a teen court system where teens develop a punishment. The youth must then complete that requirements provided during their teen court session within a 90 day contract. Upon completion of their Peer Court requirements, the juvenile court system has agreed to dismiss their charges so the youth will not have a conviction on their record.

Peer Court youth must complete:
Community Service Work
Family Service work (Chores/actions that are helpful to their families who are taking time to help the youth complete Peer Court.)
Jury Duty (listening to court cases for other youth and helping to develop a sentence for them)
Goal setting activities
Apologies/Essays
Weekly check-ins with Peer Court staff
$10 court fee.

Peer Court programming is designed to give youth the opportunity to make better choices and become connected to their community. Peer Court partners with agencies and organizations within out community to provide resources and volunteer opportunities. When youth are participating in their communities, they are more likely to make decisions that positively impact their communities. When we volunteer at the DACC greenhouse, we are giving youth the opportunity to made connections and become familiar with the resources that DACC offers our community which makes them more likely to use the resources in the future. When we serve dinner at the Danville Rescue Mission, the kids learn that the Mission serves dinners to our community every day of the week. Sometimes I will see our former kids coming through the line with siblings or their families.

People should know that we all make mistakes, the kids we work with have made a mistake but they are taking responsibility and learning from that mistake. They become leaders while in Peer Court by taking charge of community service work activities and teaching our new kids how to do our activities and grow more confident during the court sessions.

I think one of the areas where Peer Court really succeeds is meeting the youth and their families where they are. We have requirements that youth must complete but we have the ability to individualize the way that youth complete the requirements. This allows the youth and their families to be successful.