Teen Court

The OJJDP FY 09 Earmarks Programs further the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Explanatory Statement Regarding H.R. 1105 (Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009), 155 Cong. Rec. H1653 (daily ed. Feb. 23, 2009) (statement by Rep. Obey, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House).

New Braunfels, Texas will establish a Teen Court program within its Municipal Court beginning October 1, 2009. It will hire a full-time Teen Court Coordinator to administer and manage the program which will be based upon the Adult Judge Courtroom Teen Court model. The Coordinator will recruit and train both juvenile and adult volunteers as well as recruit and oversee non-profit and governmental organizations for community service. The Court will serve first offenders, aged 11 through 17, who are currently enrolled in a middle or high school who receive Class C citations in the City of New Braunfels. The program is a voluntary alternative to paying the fine for an offense and allows the offender to have the case dismissed following the successful completion of sanctions assessed by the Teen Court.

The project seeks to intervene in the lives of young people prior to the development or normalizing of serious antisocial or criminal behaviors. The over-arching goal of the program is long-term behavioral change in youthful population of New Braunfels which results in a measurable decrease in offenses in this specific demographic age group and, as a result, an enhancement to overall public safety of the community. NCA/NCF