History continued...
Every respondent is sanctioned to serve community service and engage in valuable service learning opportunities. The number of hours range from 8 to 120. To date our Youth Court respondents have served 29, 037 hours of community service in New Bedford and the surrounding towns. Community service is completed on Saturdays and managed by a staff of three adult supervisors for a ratio of 1:5. This allows for the respondents to build mentoring relationships with the staff as well as take on leadership roles within their working group. We have been able to develop a number of relationships in the community to work on projects such as: Project Clean Sweep, Gifts to Give, South Coast Hospitals Warehouse, Cradles to Crayons, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, area churches, public libraries, Adopt a Shoreline, MLK Day and National Night Out. The respondents also take part in Service Learning Week Projects that focus on service as building life skills such as: painting, carpentry, substance abuse prevention, cooking, etiquette and job readiness.
New Bedford Youth Court is endorsed by the New Bedford Public Schools, the New Bedford Police Department and the Bristol County Juvenile Court. Currently 95% of the New Bedford Public Schools are referring youthful offenders to youth court. In October 2005, with assistance from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety Byrne Grant Initiative, NBYC was able to expand to service the towns of Acushnet, Dartmouth and Fairhaven as well as an asserted effort to address alcohol related cases.
New Bedford Youth Court is endorsed by the New Bedford Public Schools, the New Bedford Police Department and the Bristol County Juvenile Court. Currently 95% of the New Bedford Public Schools are referring youthful offenders to youth court. In October 2005, with assistance from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety Byrne Grant Initiative, NBYC was able to expand to service the towns of Acushnet, Dartmouth and Fairhaven as well as an asserted effort to address alcohol related cases.
Youth Courts are organized and operated by youth with adults acting only as support roles on hearing nights. Youth volunteers are trained in all aspects of court etiquette and play roles of prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, clerk, bailiff and jury. All training materials for Youth Court volunteers have been developed and funded by the American Bar Association. The Office of the District Attorney, The Office of the Attorney General, the New Bedford Police Department and volunteer community lawyers have assisted in training 287 youth volunteers who have dedicated a combined 15, 280 hours over the last 7 years. The average youth court volunteer dedicates an average of 50-100 hours each year to this valuable program.
NBYC has developed relationships with New Bedford High School and Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School to recruit and train jury members as part of their school curriculum. Youth Court has been fully integrated into the Legal and Protective Services Program at GNBRVTHS as well as the Law and Legal classes at NBHS. Their participation in youth court is part of their educational experience and course grade. In addition, to date, over 1,200 students have participated in jury service to NBYC, donating a combined total of 4,800 hours of service to the court.
While we are very proud of our high compliance rate, we recognize that there are 25-30% of our respondents that are re-offending after completing youth court. In 2007, New Bedford Youth Court began to continue serving a number of the re-offending respondents through PAACA's Casa Start Program, a nationally recognized intense case management model. Additional case management support for some of our most at-risk youth has also been provided by the City's HOPE (Healthy Opportunities for Peaceful Engagement) Collaborative, part of the statewide Shannon Anti-gang Initiative. With the assistance of the New Bedford Public Schools, we have provided extension services and weekly support groups at the Whaling City Alternative Program and Trinity Day Academy (Westside). Extending services beyond the traditional youth court process has allowed youth court case managers to continue to foster the relationships with these youth in hopes of minimizing their traditional court involvement while providing them with support systems and coping strategies.
In the fall of 2008 with the assistance from the Office of District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter, PAACA entered into a contractual relationship with the City of Fall River and the Fall River Police Department to establish the Fall River Youth Court. An advisory Board of Fall River Youth Court Representatives was formed and met regularly over a six month period. District Attorney Sutter's commitment to volunteerism has been extremely important in leveraging resources to start Fall River Youth Court. In addition, the support of the Chief, Mayor and unanimous vote of the Fall River School Committee have been critical in establishing the FRYC in such a short period of time. Thirty Five high school students have been recruited and trained. In June 2009, Fall River began its pilot phase by hearing the first 6 cases, all of whom are on track for successful completion. Fall of 2009 will be the official launch of Fall River Youth Court.
NBYC has developed relationships with New Bedford High School and Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School to recruit and train jury members as part of their school curriculum. Youth Court has been fully integrated into the Legal and Protective Services Program at GNBRVTHS as well as the Law and Legal classes at NBHS. Their participation in youth court is part of their educational experience and course grade. In addition, to date, over 1,200 students have participated in jury service to NBYC, donating a combined total of 4,800 hours of service to the court.
While we are very proud of our high compliance rate, we recognize that there are 25-30% of our respondents that are re-offending after completing youth court. In 2007, New Bedford Youth Court began to continue serving a number of the re-offending respondents through PAACA's Casa Start Program, a nationally recognized intense case management model. Additional case management support for some of our most at-risk youth has also been provided by the City's HOPE (Healthy Opportunities for Peaceful Engagement) Collaborative, part of the statewide Shannon Anti-gang Initiative. With the assistance of the New Bedford Public Schools, we have provided extension services and weekly support groups at the Whaling City Alternative Program and Trinity Day Academy (Westside). Extending services beyond the traditional youth court process has allowed youth court case managers to continue to foster the relationships with these youth in hopes of minimizing their traditional court involvement while providing them with support systems and coping strategies.
In the fall of 2008 with the assistance from the Office of District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter, PAACA entered into a contractual relationship with the City of Fall River and the Fall River Police Department to establish the Fall River Youth Court. An advisory Board of Fall River Youth Court Representatives was formed and met regularly over a six month period. District Attorney Sutter's commitment to volunteerism has been extremely important in leveraging resources to start Fall River Youth Court. In addition, the support of the Chief, Mayor and unanimous vote of the Fall River School Committee have been critical in establishing the FRYC in such a short period of time. Thirty Five high school students have been recruited and trained. In June 2009, Fall River began its pilot phase by hearing the first 6 cases, all of whom are on track for successful completion. Fall of 2009 will be the official launch of Fall River Youth Court.