Note, Minors in the Major Leagues: Youth Courts Hit a Home Run for Juvenile Justice

Authors

Christina M. Dines, Notre Dame Law School

Abstract

Youth courts provide an efficient—albeit unconventional—alternative to the formal juvenile justice system. Although structures of youth courts vary, the purpose remains the same: to rehabilitate and deter youth offenders in a forum largely governed by their minor peers—one free of the stigma associated with the traditional justice system. This Note examines the expansion of youth courts; various structures of the courts; advantages and disadvantages of a system driven by peer mentorship and peer decision- making; typical sanctions imposed on a juvenile offender; and the wider implications of youth court from an economic and social justice perspective.

Recommended Citation

Christina M. Dines, Note, Minors in the Major Leagues: Youth Courts Hit a Home Run for Juvenile Justice, 31 Notre Dame J.L. Ethics & Pub. Pol'y 175 (2017).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp/vol31/iss1/5