‘Teen Court’ offers volunteer training, service hours

(Lewisville/ Flower Mound) Teen Court will host a volunteer training session from 8:30 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m.  Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Lewisville Municipal Annex, 1197 W. Main St.

Lunch will be provided along with door prizes for attendance and participation. Youth also can earn community service hours for attending the training. Youth ages 13-17 or still in high school (including home schooled) are eligible to volunteer as attorneys, bailiffs, judges, jurors or check-in clerks.

Teen Court is advantageous to both the offender and the volunteers who run it. Teen Court is a voluntary program that offers youth offenders the opportunity to perform community service hours and jury terms in lieu of paying a fine for minor offenses. The teen offender is brought before a jury of peers, who determine the number of community service hours jury terms to be served.  Successful completion of the court order dismisses the case from the youth’s criminal record.

Teen Court was established locally in 1994. There are approximately 800 Teen Courts in the United States today. The program seeks to prevent unlawful behavior in the future while educating the youth offender and volunteers about the judicial system. Teen Court disposes of Class C misdemeanor municipal court cases.

Teen Court awards a $1,000 college scholarship each year to one graduating senior who has volunteered in the program.

Anyone is welcome to come and observe a Teen Court, held twice a month on Tuesday nights at 6 p.m. either at Lewisville Municipal Court or Flower Mound Municipal Court.

For more information, visit cityoflewisville.com and click on “Municipal Courts” then “Teen Court.” Interested volunteers can register for the training session by contacting Laurie Yonkers no later than Wednesday, Sept. 14 , at 972-219-3671 or lyonkers@cityoflewisville.com and providing name, age, school attended, phone number and email address.

Information provided by Teen Court Coordinator Laurie Yonkers.

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  community service, criminal, Flower Mound, Lewisville, offenders, teen, Teen Court, training, volunteer