Education Matters | Sarasota Teen Court Demonstrates thePower of Second (and Third) Chances

By Hallie Peilet Young | July 2024

Heather Todd, Sarasota Teen Court’s Executive Director, recently celebrated 25 years with the nonprofit that gives every young person in our community a second chance—free of a conviction, free of an arrest, and free of a charge.

So, how does it work?

“Every first-time misdemeanor offender gets the opportunity at Teen Court, which allows them to have a dismissal of the citation, as opposed to a conviction or an arrest following them around for the rest of their lives,” Todd explains.

It’s a peer-on-peer process, where a teen gets to tell theirside of the story in front of a jury, also made up of teens. The prosecuting and defending attorneys, the clerk, the bailiff—all teenagers. An adult judge oversees the process and rules on objections, but instead of handcuffs and convictions, this courtroom fosters teachable lessons and meaningful moments.

“It also allows for the teen attorneys to have an education side, maybe on their public speaking, or an objection, or an opening or questioning,” Todd said. “And part of that jury is going to be clients [former teen defendants] that are coming back to serve on a jury for other kids.” Creating a full circle moment. 

Court is in session Wednesday nights in Sarasota, and it takes place on Mondays in North Port and Venice, too. And it’s not just for a second chance. Sometimes, the teens get a third.

“Kids can get three chances at Teen Court, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Todd said. “I think when you have a 12-year-old that’s stealing, and now they’re 17, and they’re charged with possession of marijuana, we want to serve them again. We have different programs that will allow that young person to learn from something, learn something new that they didn’t initially learn when they came through Teen Court.

Obviously a 17-year-old’s brain is different than a 12-year-old’s brain.”

Instead of a slap on the wrist, the love and nurturing that Teen Court shows its teen clients isn’t just productive in keeping them out of the court system, but also in raising their self-esteem. Todd says teens can learn true lessons that make them want to be better, instead of just an ultimatum to stay out of trouble.

“They might have another bump in the road, and I always say it’s a speed bump. When these kids get into trouble, it doesn’t have to be a stop sign; it doesn’t have to be a U- turn. It’s a speed bump,” Todd said.

Their court program has a 92% success rate, meaning 92% of participants never have a subsequent misdemeanor or arrest of any kind.

In addition to their standard court sessions, Teen Court also has a drug abuse prevention program called Camp X-Rayd, with a 94% success rate—only 6% of participants fall back into drug-related legal issues.

Every month on a Saturday morning at 6:00, Teen Court partners with local sheriff’s offices, police departments and school board police, who help transport teen participants around town for a meaningful day of learning about the harm drugs can do.

“We take the kids out to Knights Trail Park and their swat obstacle course; we do team building exercises,” Todd said. “It’s not boot camp. We talk about that good choices equal good outcomes, and we talk about the substances that they’re putting into their body. They’re experimenting with some really serious scary drugs, and we show them on that what they’re doing to their bodies.”

They go to local jails to talk to people in recovery pods, and they see juveniles in jail who are, for the most part, being charged as adults. They also take a trip to a morgue and to the emergency room to absorb the grave reality of what overdoses can do, and how easily they can happen to anyone.

“It’s a really heavy day,” Todd said. “And the adults that spent the day with the kids share their experiences because we’re all a work in progress, and we may look like we have it all together, but we haven’t always all had it altogether, or we’re still working on ourselves.”

Todd says one of the challenges the organization faces is that many people think they’re an arm of the juvenile court system, county or state.

But they’re none of those things. They’re a 501(c)3 nonprofit, and Sarasota Teen Court was the first teen court in the state, opening its doors in 1988 when they saw a rise in the local delinquent crime rate. Now they are one of 54 teen courts in Florida.

Sarasota is one of just two that operate as a nonprofit.

“Operating as a nonprofit is the more difficult route, but it’s what’s best for the kids,” Todd said. “And they’re all good kids. I feel very strongly about that.”

Though operating as a nonprofit is the more difficult route, it affords them resources and programs other teen courts don’t have.

“We are able to drug test every kid that comes through,” Todd said. “So, you might have a kid that has a petty theft defense, but we need to know if they’re doing drugs because we’ve got them right this second for services. If they’re doing drugs, let’s get them in camp. Let’s see if they’re struggling with mental health.”

Last year Teen Court spent over $100,000 in mental health funding to make sure that it was taking full advantage of its time with the teens while they had their attention.

“We can do that becausewe’re a nonprofit. We have a very strict dress code at Teen Court. We have a clothes closet and we give out gift cards that say, ‘Hey, go get the business casual clothes,’ and that’s because of donations,” Todd said.

And they rely on volunteers who have different expertise in the business field.

“I have someone right now working on interview skills. We have a youth leadership team with our kids. We have a resume builder. We have a dress code for success,” Todd said. “We have that opportunity with these kids to teach them that nice, firm handshake and that good eye contact. We don’t want that time to pass by, and maybe their parents have taught it to them, and they’re not listening, so if an outsider shows them and tells them the importance of doing it, it’ll click. At least that’s been our experience.”

Teen Court is always looking for helpers to get involved.

“We’d be happy to have their time, talent, or treasure,” Todd said. “We will take it all.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Teen Court’s mission and to get involved, please visit sarasotateencourt.org.