What is Youth Court?
Independence Youth Court is an alternative to the Juvenile Court process. First and second-time offenders are referred to Youth Court, a peer diversion court composed of junior and senior high school student volunteers. Youth offenders that attend Youth Court will be tried, defended, judged, and convicted or exonerated by a court made up of their peers. Adults will monitor the court proceedings at all times.
Once the Youth Court sentence is successfully completed and the juvenile turns 18, their criminal record is permanently destroyed.
The primary goals of the Independence Youth Court are to teach high risk youth the necessity of taking responsibility for their own actions, to provide an alternative to the Jackson County Family Court process, for the youth to avoid further contact with the Police, and to teach the offenders skills to resist future criminal activity.
Independence Youth Court is a non-profit organization funded in part by the City of Independence and the Jackson County COMBAT (Community Backed Anti Drug Tax) Program. Without this funding our program would not exist.
Jackson County
COMBAT
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