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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:27 am
Time: 12:27 am
Results for youth courts (u.s.)
1 results foundAuthor: Norton, Michael H. Title: Youth Courts and their Educational Value: An Examination of Youth Courts in Chester, Pennsylvania Summary: Youth courts are becoming increasingly common across the country. Whether run by the legal community, community agencies, or within school settings, all youth courts share two common features: 1) youth who commit minor offenses appear before their peers and receive sentences from other youth; and, 2) youth design sentences with the goal of repairing the harm done to individual victims and the broader community From 2009 through 2012, the Stoneleigh Foundation supported the creation and sustainability of youth courts in Chester Upland School District (CUSD) through the work of Stoneleigh Fellow Gregg Volz. In 2011, the Foundation commissioned Research for Action (RFA) to conduct a study of CUSD youth courts during the 2011-12 school year. This executive summary presents a brief review of the context surrounding youth courts in Chester; general findings related to students' participation in youth courts; and a set of lessons learned for youth court implementation and future research. CUSD youth courts were developed in Chester, Pennsylvania, a city which has persistently ranked among the state's most socio-economically distressed for many years. The CUSD has spent the past decade in a constant state of crisis, with student proficiency in math and English far below the state average, and graduation rates far below that of most districts across the state. In 2011-12, state education budget cuts resulted in teacher layoffs and personnel transfers across the district, which destabilized school supports for youth courts. Despite these adverse conditions, the youth courts continued with the support of dedicated students, teachers, and administrators in the CUSD, along with substantial support and advocacy from the Stoneleigh Foundation and other legal, higher education, and community partners. While the study was initially intended to assess the effect that youth court participation had on participants, three key challenges restricted RFA's ability to conduct these analyses: selection bias, inconsistent participation records, and limited interviews with participants. However, this study reveals that the long-term academic performance of youth court volunteers, students who serve on the courts, and respondents (students who have committed low-level offenses), was significantly stronger than that of their peers in the following ways: - Significantly more volunteers graduated than non-volunteers (79% vs. 47%); - Significantly fewer volunteers dropped out of school than non-volunteers (6% vs. 21%); - Significantly more respondents than non-respondents graduate (71% v. 49%); and, - Significantly fewer respondents dropped out of school than non-respondents (10% v. 21%). Details: Philadelphia: Research for Action, 2013. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 24, 2015 at: http://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/publication-photos/1187/Norton_M_Youth_Courts_and_their_Educational_Value.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/publication-photos/1187/Norton_M_Youth_Courts_and_their_Educational_Value.pdf Shelf Number: 135380 Keywords: Juvenile CourtsJuvenile OffendersYouth Courts (U.S.) |