News

NEW YORK, NY November 15, 2007 —Youth courts are expanding across New York City and state, according to educators and officials who met today at the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn.

REPORTER: Teenagers in the programs help decide sanctions like community service for other teens who have admitted to minor offenses. Greg Berman heads the Center for Court Innovation.

BERMAN: We've just seen an explosion across New York City, and so now there's youth courts in Crown Heights, there's youth court in Harlem and other places, and our goal is to continue to grow the movement.

REPORTER: Berman said the youth courts have a compliance rate of 85 percent, higher than traditional courts, and that offenders often end up asking to join the courts themselves.