A program aimed at stopping young offenders from becoming career criminals is working so well, there have been no repeat offenders in four years.
The Waukesha County Teen Court is a place where low level offenders who plead guilty get sentenced by their peers—other teenagers.
"Bailiff, calling the case,” said Fred Garcia to start the proceedings.
It is just like any courtroom but the defense, prosecution, and jury are all teens."
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” said Simone Murrell from Oak Creek High School as she started her mock defense.
This case was just a mock case to show how the process all works. The teens were presenting a vaping in school case and even had to determine the community service sentence.
“We have determined that the punishment is 20 service hours and three teen court sessions,” said Samarth Singh from Brookfield Academy as he talked about a sentencing recommendation.
The Waukesha County Teen Court allows people, who are under 18 years old and arrested for low-level offense, who plead guilty to go through this court program to get their sentence. Once the sentence is completed, the offenders can have their records expunged.
Watch: Zero repeat offenders: Waukesha County Teen Court shows impressive results for 4 years
It has become such a positive experience, Emerald Gould from Arrowhead High School, said she heard her classmates, who have been offenders, praise the program before she joined.
"I heard people at my school talking about it because they had gone through the system and were talking about it,” said Emerald.
All the students involved said the whole experience has changed their entire perspective on kids and crime.
“Everyone's life is much different,” said Adya Gupta from Brookfield East High School.
“They might not be that kind of person, but they get involved with the wrong crowd, or they make one bad choice,” said Simone Murrell
A judge for teen court said the success rate is incredible. In the last four years, the number of teens who re-offended after completing the program is zero.
"Such magic occurs when you have peers running the show and peers being the jurors, and how that interaction works in the court process is pretty incredible,” said Clarice Ruehl, a Waukesha County Teen Court judge.
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