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City of Aurora Youth Court

City of Aurora Youth Court is a collaborative program with Aurora Police Department and the City of Aurora Youth and Sports Activities Department.

The mission of the City of Aurora Youth Court is to provide an alternative to formal criminal prosecution that still holds the juvenile offenders accountable for their delinquent actions. Through community based sentencing options, juvenile offenders are provided access to prevention efforts and programs designed to help them achieve more responsible and productive lifestyles.

The City of Aurora Youth Court is a specialized diversion program for youth offenders. The typical youth referred to our youth court are thirteen to sixteen years old, in trouble with the police for the first time and probably charges with vandalism, stealing, or other non-violent offense.

Developed as an alternative to the traditional juvenile court system for younger and less serious offenders, youth court operates on the premise that the judgment of a juvenile offender’s peers may have a greater impact than the decisions of adult authority figures.

The City of Aurora Youth Court offers these youth an alternative to the regular juvenile court process. Rather than going to juvenile court and risking formal prosecution and possible adjudication, a young offender can go through youth court and avoid what might have been the first stain on his or her legal record.

In return, however, a young person in youth court is almost certain to get a rather stiff sentence. They may be ordered to write apology letters to their parent and the victim of their offense, and perhaps an essay about the effects of crime on the community. The City of Aurora Youth Court uses the theory and practice of balanced and restorative justice. Restorative justice requires, at a minimum, that we address victims’ harms and needs, hold offenders accountable to put right those harms, and involve the victims, offenders and communities in the process. The City of Aurora Youth Court also uses the Street Law for Youth Courts: Education Workshops that helps us initiate a law-related education (LRE) program as sentencing options.

There are several communities in Kane County that operate youth (peer, teen) courts. While they all might have a different model and even use different methods of sentencing they help the county by lowering the administrative cost of traditional juvenile court. It gives the offenders and the youth jurors increased communication, listening, and public speaking skills. It promotes volunteerism through the jurors and the offenders that asked to return and become a juror. The City of Aurora Youth Court cultivates a sense of empowerment that motivates the youth to become involved in their communities and other service organizations