Teen Court is a "Hands On" Educational Opportunity that Allows Both Offenders and Teen Volunteers to Experience, thus Better Understand, Our System of Justice

The OJJDP FY 10 Earmarks Program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Conference Report to accompany the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L. 111-117), H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 111-366 at 702-714.

Philadelphia Teen Court (PTC) focuses on academic supports necessary to improve civic, reading comprehension, and the importance of education. The focus will also be on improving the participants' social skills through attitudinal changes and a court forum. Participants will learn new approaches and techniques in establishing and maintaining good relationships with their families, peers, elected officials and authority figures. The program will operate on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during the balance of the school year. The schools will identify at-risk targeted youth due to either truancy or violence. Participants will be introduced to concepts and approaches they may want to consider using when making positive choices instead of just reacting. Test results will be used as a performance measure of what the students have learned from the classroom curriculum. NCA/NCF