Youth Court

The Youth court just received the annual report card. We felt the community should have an idea of how things went for the last calendar year.

Please keep in mind the Youth Court does not handle Smoking or Minors in possession, they are handled in Justice Court. On that note Youth Court and Justice Court have entered into an agreement to work cooperatively with Minors in Possession of an intoxicating Substance (1st Offense). The youth will still have to go to Justice Court an pay their fines and fees plus whatever the court dictates, they will also attend a Drug Information Education Program with the Youth Court.

Over the last 5 years we had a small increase in the number of referrals the Youth Court received.

For the year, 2022, there were 25 referrals of which most of them were for offenses against property and persons. The kids the Youth court handled were 61% male and 39% female ranging in ages from 10 - 17. Most of the charges were misdemeanors. The way the charges are being handled are as follows. 16 are informal (handled at the Probation Office), 2 were formal (went before the Judge) and 5 cases are currently pending in the court system.

The Youth Court ordered that 281 hour of Community Service be performed. by the end of the year 236 hours had been completed. Due to some youth being on probation after the new year the amount completed does not equal the amount performed. Bottom line is that the youth are out giving back to the community.

Over the past year we had 7 Youth detained. About half were released from Detention within 30 days. Of the other 1/3 spent from 31 - 60 days in Detention, 1/3rd spent 61 - 90 days in Detention and the last 1/3rd spent over 90 days in Detention.

The Youth Court act was setup to give youth a chance to redeem themselves. The Youth Court Act does work as evidenced by a 70% success rate of having no recidivism within one year after the completion of their case.

Respectfully Submitted

Andrew Koval

Chief Juvenile Probation Officer