Southeast High gives teen court a try

Springfield’s Southeast High School is experimenting with a program designed to divert students who misbehave away from the criminal justice system.

For example, if a student is caught stealing, the current approach is to have the police officer who is assigned to the school write a citation and the matter is referred to the Sangamon County State’s Attorney.

But Southeast is beginning a diversion program called teen court, which will allow a jury of fellow students to ponder the transgression, question the students involved and develop an alternative punishment.

“We are trying to avoid that school-to-prison pipeline,” Southeast Principal Cody Trigg said. “And we viewed it as an opportunity to still hold students accountable for a poor choice or mistake they made. But also limit the use of police interventions.”

He said the current system doesn’t always work well.

“Let’s say a student steals something from another student and the matter is transferred over to the criminal court system. The student will likely be fined,” Trigg said. “Often the fines go unpaid or the student’s parents pay it. Either way, it doesn’t teach a student much of a lesson.”

With the teen court, the matter may be pondered by a jury and the student may be ordered to perform community service, apologize to the person they harmed or perhaps perform some other form of restitution.

School board member Erica Austin added that a peer jury may take a greater interest in what is happening in a youngster’s life.

“They can ask a student – or their parents – if there are problems at home that should be considered when deciding how to deal with a case,” she said.

Trigg said no students will be referred to teen court without the participation of their parents. Parents are expected to be a part of the court proceeding and may also be asked questions.

“We may go to a student who is facing a 10-day suspension and tell them if they agree to participate in teen court their suspension may be reduced to two days. This encourages participation but has the added benefit of keeping him in school learning.”

The idea for teen court was presented to Springfield Public Schools by Assistant U.S. Attorney and Southeast alum Sierra Senor-Moore.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity for the school district,” she said. “I did go to Southeast. Additionally, I knew people in the administration and their connections with Southeast. So, it just kind of made for an easier transition.”

Senor-Moore said this will be an excellent experience for students serving as jurors.

“They will be learning to practice empathy and do away with biases,” she said. “They are going to be hearing not only what the offense is that brought the student to teen court, but they will also potentially hear about other issues that the student may have. They can then assess what would be an appropriate remedy to make the victim whole as well as to ensure that the offender does not repeat that offense or any other offenses.”

Senor-Moore said the goal is to eventually expand teen court to other Springfield high schools. She added the jury’s responsibility is not to determine guilt or innocence – a student’s culpability has already been decided before the matter is referred to teen court.

“The dean, the social worker, the principal, those people can make the recommendation that a student participate in teen court. Obviously, the student and the student’s guardian or parent would have to agree to allow the student to participate.

“The student would then go before the jury and the offense would be read. They would have to take responsibility for the actions and then they would have the opportunity to explain to the jury what happened and anything else that they might feel that the jury should know.”

A victim of the crime may make a statement as well.

She added remedies may vary from performing community service to writing an apology letter. But much emphasis will be placed on having the offender learn the impact their transgression had on others.

“Let’s say the offense was a small theft against a teacher. The small theft may have prevented the teacher from doing some sort of activity. So maybe the remedy would be for the student offender to not just apologize to the teacher but to apologize to the entire class.”

Scott Reeder, an Illinois Times staff writer, can be reached at sreeder@illinoistimes.com.

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