Youth Court provides alternative sentencing to first-time juvenile offenders in the District of Columbia and serves as a unique pre-petition diversion program for non-violent offenders.

Youth Court enlists young people in creating a new kind of juvenile justice where youth juries have the power to impose a sentence on offenders and where non-violent youth can avoid formal prosecution for their offense by carrying out the sentence imposed by their peers.

All youth who were diverted to Youth Court since January 2003, whether successful or unsuccessful, have only an 11% re-arrest rate one year from the date of original arrest. Read more about the recidivism rates here.

Youth Court has a fourteen year history of providing successful peer-to-peer services to youth and is recognized as one of the largest youth courts in the nation.