• Program Description
• Positions to Volunteer for
  • Attorneys
  • Jurors
  • Clerk of Court
  • Bailiff
  • Reparations Board
• Interested in serving as a volunteer?

• Prosecution Team
  Once assigned, the two prosecuting attorneys will need to gather information about the case. Much of the information that they need will be provided to them by the defendant’s caseworker at the Youth Services Bureau. Their purpose in gathering information is to learn the facts of the case that will best help them present the aggravating circumstances and make restorative suggestions for the sentence contract. It is not their job to secure the harshest contract for the defendant. Their focus needs to be on what is most restorative for all affected parties.
• Defense Team
  Once assigned, the defense team will talk to their client and begin to gather information about the case. Most of the information that the team will require will have already been gathered by the defendant’s caseworker. The team’s purpose in gathering information is to discover the mitigating circumstances behind the offense such as any peer pressure or other issues that may have contributed to what happened. The defense team will also want to make sure they have background information about the defendant including their marks at school, their job, etc. It is the job of the defense attorneys to make contract suggestions that are restorative not to get the defendant off with as little as possible.
• Mentor Attorneys
  Two practicing attorneys from the community volunteer to help out with each case. Once contacted, each attorney decides to mentor either the prosecuting or defending team of teen attorneys.

• Jury Foreperson
  It is the responsibility of the foreperson to facilitate the jury deliberation. The foreperson leads the jurors through the seven-step deliberation process, a tool that assists the jurors in creating a restorative sentence contract for the defendant. The foreperson helps the jury to sort out the important facts from the irrelevant details.
  It is the role of the foreperson to ensure that the discussion of the jurors reflects the facts that were presented in the courtroom and not someone’s opinion or assumption. The foreperson is responsible for ensuring that all of the jurors are included in the discussions and have an opportunity to give input during the deliberations. See guidelines for conduct in the deliberation room.
• Jurors
  It is the role of the jurors to listen carefully to the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of the offense that are outlined by the victim, defendant, witnesses and attorneys.  The jurors must use the seven-step deliberation process as a tool to arrive at a unanimous decision for each contract item.  The jurors will abide by the rules for jury deliberation.

It is the job of the bailiff to maintain order in the courtroom and administer the oath to witnesses. The bailiff is also in charge of the jury as instructed by the presiding judge.