September is National Youth Court Month
Midland Teen Court recognizes Midland Youth
Positive Peer Pressure, Teens Helping Teens
[August 21, 2002] - The Midland Teen Court will be
participating in National Youth Court Month during September 2002.
The National Youth Court Center and the U.S. Department
of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention have
designated September 2002 as National Youth Court Month to highlight the
activities of youth courts and their contributions to the youth justice system.
Midland Teen Court will join more tan 880 youth court programs operating in
district-level juvenile justice systems, schools, and community based
organizations in 46 states and the District of Columbia in celebrating the
valuable contributions that youth courts and their volunteers - youth and adult
- make to our nation's communities and young people.
Positive Peer Pressure, Teens Helping Teens was
selected as the theme for the first National Youth Court Month because youth
courts exemplify the practices of empowering youth through involvement in
community solutions, problem solving, decision-making, leadership development,
and positive peer pressure. Youth courts - also called teen courts, peer courts,
and school courts - are one of the fastest growing crime intervention and
prevention programs in the nation. Youth courts offer ways to engage the
community in a partnership with the juvenile justice system and schools to
respond to juvenile crime and problem behavior by increasing the awareness of
delinquency issues on a local level and by mobilizing community members and
youth to take an active role in addressing local problems.
