Teens take courtroom responsibility seriously

WASILLA — While most teenagers pack their summer months with activities and fun away from the classroom, some Mat-Su Valley students will be busy in court — running the system.

In a ceremony held Saturday at the Palmer Courthouse, Judge John Wolfe welcomed four new members to the Mat-Su Youth Court by having them take oaths. Kisaac and Erin Serafin will also be youth court officials, but could not attend the swearing-in ceremony.

With training completed, Christian Winter and Khephran Heru-ra-ha of Palmer High School, and Marshal Lacher and Chelsea Pardo of Colony High School will be able to serve as attorneys and judges for the youth court, which deals with first-time misdemeanor juvenile offenders.

The Mat-Su Youth Court (MSYC) is a diversion program that uses teen attorneys, judges, clerks and bailiffs. Assisted by the program staff and a legal advisor, the court meets twice a week to hear cases. The most common charge is shoplifting with the majority of defendants pleading guilty and their cases handled strictly as sentencing hearings.

In the courtroom, a three-judge panel hands down sentences, which can include community work service hours, writing an essay or other sanctions, such as writing a letter of apology, viewing an adult arraignment, a tour of the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility, a drug/alcohol assessment or a an anti-shoplifting class.

Carol Cross, a probation officer at the MSYC for the past three years, said the all-student court system not only prepares high school students to pursue careers in law, but also gives them a sense of accomplishment and a better leg up at finding success in the workforce.

In a small office inside the Wasilla Police Department, Cross and youth court veteran Lisa Albert-Konecky, both probation officers, see them on a daily basis — kids running afoul of the law for the first time.

“These are kids in trouble, but not necessarily on a destructive path,” Cross said.

Launched as a response to the successful Anchorage Youth Court, the MSYC opened its courtroom doors in 1996, Cross said.

“It’s an ongoing community workforce organization,” she said. “What we do is we recruit high school students in the Mat-Su Valley to give them an opportunity to be peers.”

The six summer students completed a 14-hour legal training course and a simplified version of the bar exam. The course is taught by volunteer lawyers in the Valley, including Alison Collins from the District Attorney’s Office, and Craig Condie, Jeff Bradley and Kelly Jantunen from the Public Defender’s Office.

Cross said the summer youth court contingent is typically smaller than the 15 to 20 students that fill the Wasilla Police Station classroom during the school year. Students receive half a high school credit if they volunteer 94 hours in the courtroom, including training.

“It’s where they actually hear cases of first-time misdemeanor offenders and give out actual sentences that are legally binding,” Cross said. The volunteer students start practicing law in a shadow position with a real lawyer, moving up to second chair, first chair, to attorney and eventually judge.

Cross and Albert-Konecky both said some Valley high schools offer merit diplomas to youth court students who have accumulated more than 300 hours of court time.

Many graduates from MSYC program go on to study and practice law, Cross said. Students need to perform hours on both the defense and prosecution teams before completion and high school credit is given.

“They become excellent public speakers. It’s good resume stuff and it’s good for military enrollment,” Cross said.

Previous youth court graduates, such as Anchorage attorney Gabe Layman, are asked to revisit the program to give students useful tips on success in the law field.

Meeting in court twice a week, the caseloads are weighty.

Last year, 163 cases were referred from corrections to MSYC with more than 120 teens sentenced. Community work service is typically the final sentence for most cases.

After being contacted by police, Cross and Albert-Konecky brief each prospective youth court intake, interviewing each youth along with parents on the process. Cross said most of the young offenders request to have their peers determine a verdict, believing they will be let off easier.

Not the case, she said.

“Kids are hard on kids,” Cross said, adding they probably receive more consequences “because these are responsible juveniles delivering justice. They are serious about what they do and it’s not a game.”

At the Alaska State Youth Court Conference held each November, MSYC students meet and greet with hundreds of other courtroom teens from 11 youth courts around the state, which shows a strong interest in pre-law.

Generally, Albert-Konecky said students are mostly enrolled in high school when they enter into the MSYC, but they need only be a freshman to control the courtroom. One MSYC judge was 15 years old.

“They are more encouraging to the student in trouble and notice their accomplishments,” she said of youth court judges. “But then, [they] make the point that it’s not OK to shoplift. They make the point that when a teenager shoplifts, it makes people stare at all teenagers when they walk into a store, that stereotyping occurs because of it.”

Albert-Konecky added that there has not been one criminal trial at MSYC in more than four years as most youths confess to their crimes.

“We don’t want to overwhelm them,” Albert-Konecky said. “We’re talking about first-time offenders here. Most walk away with community service and, hopefully, they don’t enter into the system again.”

For more information on enrolling as a volunteer in the Mat-Su Youth Court, call 352-5446.