Columbia County Teen Court

Teen court diversion programs are intended to offer an alternative to the traditional juvenile justice system and school disciplinary proceedings. Typically, teen court offenders are first-time offenders between ages 11 and 17 who have been charged with misdemeanor or status offenses, with offenses including theft, vandalism, disorderly conduct, assault, and possession of marijuana. Additionally, teen courts have been used to handle school disciplinary issues, underage drinking, and tobacco possession cases. These juvenile justice voluntary diversion programs harness positive peer pressure and utilize it in a peer judgment setting to help address the anti-social, delinquent, and/or criminal behavior of youth. The peer judgment and positive peer pressure aspects of teen/youth court diversion programs are the two primary programmatic elements which separate these from other youth/juvenile justice voluntary diversion programs