What is Marin Youth Court?

The YMCA Marin County Youth Court is an alternative to the traditional juvenile justice system. Based on the principles of restorative justice, Youth Court empowers teens to take an active role in addressing and supporting peers who have made a poor choice which has led to a criminal citation. Restorative practices focus on learning from mistakes rather than being punished. The goal is to repair the harm done and the relationships impacted. An additional component is to build on the youth’s innate strengths to increase their problem solving skills and social competencies so the youth may return to the community as a more reflective and wiser person.

How does Marin Youth Court work?

Youth Court is driven by teen volunteers who manage court operations that provide a peer-to-peer restorative justice process for juveniles ages 11-17 who have admitted guilt for violating the law. Juvenile offenders attend a hearing held by a jury of their peers, comprised of student volunteers, and former offenders and facilitated by a volunteer attorney who acts as judge. The offender works with peer advocates and jurors to reflect on the poor choice that got them into trouble and craft a restorative plan.

Probation, police departments and schools refer cases to the Youth Court. Approximately 90 percent of referrals are related to substance violations. As part of their restorative plan, the juvenile offender must participate on future Youth Court juries and perform community service. The juvenile offender must also complete the 12 hour YMCA Alcohol & Drug Safety Skills Training, and their parent(s) must participate in six of those hours.

Successful completion of the program results in the juvenile’s record being cleared. Having this safety net for youth in the early stages of criminal behavior can help them turn the corner, find a new path and increase their odds for future success.

The Marin County Youth Court is administered by the Restorative Services Department of the Marin YMCA in collaboration with the Superior Court, District Attorney's Office, Office of the Public Defender, Probation Department, Marin County Bar Association and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission among other county, statewide, and national partners.

For a personal look into the program, check out, Finding Justice: Ending the School to Prison Pipeline, a documentary that recently premiered in the 2016 Mill Valley Film Festival, which follows a young man’s journey through Marin Youth Court. Link

Why is Marin Youth Court Needed?

Substance violations constitute 90 percent of Youth Court referrals. Current data confirm Marin students are experimenting dangerously with alcohol and other drugs. Marin teens have one of the highest rates of binge drinking—5 drinks in a 2 hour setting—in the state, and they consume high potency marijuana at twice the national rate. They are also using dangerous pharmaceuticals such as OxyContin and Xanax. Alarmingly, when an OxyContin habit becomes too expensive, users switch to more potent and much cheaper heroin, and the consumption of “bootleg” methamphetamine infused Ecstasy, and Fentanyl spiked Xanax is on the rise.

In response to Marin’s alcohol and drug epidemic, the Youth Court developed the Decisions Under the Influence Alcohol & Drug Safety Skills Training. The goal is to help young people successfully navigate their risk-taking years. Students gain the knowledge and tools to protect themselves and others, empowering them to be each other's first responders.

Marin Youth Court successfully faces the challenge of helping teens from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Although Marin is one of the wealthiest counties in the country, giving most youth easy access to alcohol and drugs, Marin is also faced with too many children living in poverty. Students of color, mostly low income, are at greater risk of being suspended and not graduating from school and are vulnerable to trauma, drugs, crime, violence and incarceration.

How effective is Marin Youth Court?

Marin Youth Court has diverted over 1,000 young people since its inception in 2004. California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye congratulated the Marin Youth Court for being on the forefront of mitigating the school-to-prison pipeline on its tenth anniversary in 2014. “The YMCA Youth Court holds incredible promise, the lack of recidivism and the 95 percent success rate is unprecedented. This is criminal realignment, this is where it starts. It is the seed of a program like this that is the solution to California’s public safety problem, criminal justice and prison overcrowding. This program should be replicated throughout all 58 counties of California.” See the Chief Justice’s complete comments at this link.

There are more than 1,300 youth courts nationwide with 65 in California; however most programs mimic the traditional adversarial court process which inadvertently can result in punitive outcomes. The Marin Youth Court has shown that its non-adversarial restorative collaborative problem solving court process can produce phenomenal results.

Based on the success of the Marin Youth Court, the program is being rolled out by the YMCA of the USA nationally. The program is soon to be replicated in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

How can you Support Marin Youth Court?

You can host a screening of Youth Court documentary, Finding Justice: Ending the School to Prison Pipeline, volunteer as a Judge, be a guest speaker at the Youth Court Advocate Training, chaperone at the annual state Youth Court summit, become a Case Manager, and of course you can make a financial contribution. If you would like support or volunteer with the Youth Court, please contact Don Carney at 415-459-9622 or Email