National Youth Court Center

• NCJ Number: 182182
• Author(s): Mistene Vickers
• Date Published: May 2000
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This Fact Sheet describes the National Youth Court Center.

Abstract

Youth court programs have become an integral component of the juvenile justice system, with more than 650 programs in communities throughout America and hundreds more under consideration. Although jurisdictions may call their programs different names--youth court, teen court or peer court--the philosophy guiding the programs is the same: hold juvenile offenders accountable for their actions, educate youth about the judicial and legal systems and empower youth to be active in their communities. To create a central point of contact for youth court programs, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) established the National Youth Court Center in 1999 at the American Probation and Parole Association in Lexington, KY. The Center provides training, technical assistance and resource materials to developing and existing youth courts. It maintains a searchable database and a website which contains a current list of youth court programs, downloadable resource information, training announcements and links to other helpful sites.