The Kanas City Youth Court began operating in Kansas City in 1992 and is a Peer Diversion Program based on a national teen court model that has been proven to reduce recidivism in the referred youth who participate in the program.

Our student-run court receives referrals from the Kansas City Police Department, Jackson County Family Court and the Hickman Mills School District. We are a diversion program of the Jackson County Family Court that seeks to provide young offenders an opportunity to be mentored by their peers as they accept responsibility and make amends for the harm they perpetrated to victims and the community. 

The purpose of the intervention is to prevent young juveniles from continuing to engage in unlawful behavior. The Kansas City Youth Court uses a restorative justice model that allows young offenders to accept responsibility for their choices, make amends, to the victim and develop strategies to avoid criminal and anti-social behavior and school suspensions in the future.

Youth attorneys, who are ages 12 to 18, are trained by licensed attorneys and judges in the areas of law and the legal justice system to adjudicate the cases the youth offenders are charged with. They assist the young offenders with understanding legal consequences and the effects of criminal conduct on themselves and others.

Locations

Click on the window icon (upper right corner) of the map below to expand. List of all program locations is included with expanded view of map. Locations are also listed on this page below the map.