Youth Court
About Community Youth Court
Launched in September 2012, the White Plains Community Youth Court is a community-based juvenile justice initiative founded by the White Plains Youth Bureau. The goal of the Community Youth Court is to deter and prevent juvenile delinquency and alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use amongst youth in the City of White Plains while promoting restorative justice principles and facilitating healthy positive outcomes for youth and families.
Benefits of White Plains Community Youth Court
The White Plains Community Youth Court serves as a community teaching and prevention tool by providing youth volunteers with educational legal and criminal justice-based training as well as the opportunity to develop practical civics and law experiences. It also serves to educate youth defendants and the parents and family members of youth defendants by providing both defendants and their families with meaningful and educational sanctions as part of the youth court’s sentencing procedure. The program includes the provision of social enrichment and alcohol/drug abstention educational awareness for families of defendants and youth defendants through their participation in meaningful and educational workshops and sanctions as part of the proposed youth court.
Community Youth Court Goals
- To serve as an effort to reduce juvenile delinquency and thwart the progression of juvenile delinquent behavior to adult criminal behavior.
- To decrease the use of illicit substances by youth in the community
- To decrease the consumption of alcohol by youth in the community.
- To promote positive peer influence and leadership through civic engagement and mentoring with exposure to the legal profession and juvenile justice system.
Community Youth Court Highlights
Community Youth Court Partners
The Community Youth Court has received an enthusiastic support for partnership from various criminal justice agencies, legal associations, human services agencies, community members, youth and faith-based organizations including:
White Plains Department of Public Safety, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, White Plains Office of the Mayor, Westchester County Department of Probation, Calvary Baptist Church, White Plains Youth and Families, Westchester County Attorney’s Office, Westchester County Family Court Judge Kathie E. Davidson, White Plains City Court Judge Jo Ann Friia, White Plains Bar Association, El Centro Hispano Agency, White Plains Public Library, Department of Recreation and Parks, and Pace University School of Law, amongst others.
