Title
Authorizing City Council's Committee on Public Safety to conduct hearings on how Youth Courts could reduce juvenile recidivism rates, violence in schools, bullying and in conclusion have an effect on the expenses of incarceration by engaging and empowering previously disconnected youth in a participatory and democratic system.
Body
WHEREAS, Youth court is far less expensive than formal court proceedings and detention, reduces racial disparity and the school-to-prison pipeline, and achieves lower recidivism rates than current practices; and
WHEREAS, Youth courts are alternative school or juvenile justice disciplinary systems where students are trained to hold disciplinary hearings, and deliberate to form an appropriate disposition for student offenders. Agencies operating and administering youth court programs include juvenile courts, juvenile probation departments, law enforcement, private nonprofit organizations, and schools; and
WHEREAS, First arrests have devastating consequences for youth. Youth arrested in high school almost double their odds of not completing high school. For youth who actually go to court, school dropout rates increase by four hundred percent; and
WHEREAS, When defendants successfully complete a youth court program, 63% of youth courts dismiss the charges, and 27% immediately expunge the defendant's record. Further, according to an Urban Institute evaluation of youth court programs, the six-month recidivism figures among programs range from 6%-9%, greatly improving public safety; and
WHEREAS, FBI statistics found that over a million and a half juveniles are charged with crime annually. According to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund's report entitled "Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline," in the year 2000, over three million students in the United States were suspended and over 97,000 students were expelled. Many youth are pushed out of school by formulaic and harsh disciplinary policies and are more l...
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