A Peer Jury in the Juvenile Court

Abstract

Using the procedure of informal probation, the juvenile court in Columbia County (Georgia) is experimenting with a panel of age peers who determine case disposition for certain offenses and offenders. The authors describe the innovative progam and present the results of a qualitative program assessment using information from in-depth interviews and questionnaire responses. The data indicate the program is popular with peer jury members, youthful offenders, and parents. The positive nature of the responses suggests that further research be done to determine if peer juries are any more or less successful than other juvenile court programs.