Youth Crime Crisis in DC

Much attention is being given to the crime crisis in our nation's capital.  One of the must substantial contributors to this crisis is crime by adolescents. 

We have researched how D.C. used to handle its problem with youthful non-violent offenders - with Teen Courts.  Teen Courts, an alternative justice system for first-time juvenile offenders, were significantly productive in D.C. in particular. We discovered not only how they work, but why they are so effective in our article entitled Empowering Love and Respect for Child Offenders Through Therapeutic Jurisprudence: The Teen Courts Example, published in Volume 4 of Sociology and Anthropology at pages 212-221 back in 2016. Sadly the D.C. City Council cut the funding for Teen Courts in 2016. 

I began this research as part of a global project with scholars from around the world meeting in Israel in 2013.  You can download and review that work at Teen Courts: Empowerment through Child Participation, a chapter in International Perspectives and EmpiricalFindings on Child Participation (Tali Gal and Benedetta Duramy Eds.), published by Oxford University Press in 2015. 

The option of Teen Courts for non-violent juvenile offenders is still being used in various venues across the nation because these courts have an excellent track record of halting the crime pipeline for troubled kids, all while creating opportunities for youthful offenders to be empowered with meaningful restitution, and the chance to turn away from crime to a productive life. 

Family breakdown is a major reason for the youth crime crisis in D.C., but youth and family restoration can happen in a Teen Court.