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The Youth Court
One interesting initiative promoted by Timedollar is the Time Dollar Youth Court, which has been the inspiration for many similar schemes in American juvenile tribunals.
Time Dollar Youth Court, recognized by the Colombia District Supreme Court, is one of the biggest juvenile courts in the United States, and is authorized to apply a model of justice between peers alternative to the conventional one. Boys and Girls, who in many cases have also been found guilty of crimes, administer justice to their peers, imposing upon them the need to formulate apologies for the crime, getting involved in useful community service and taking part in education schemes aimed at developing their potential. The punishment usually involves the guilty becoming part of another jury. Often the parents end up becoming volunteers at the court too.
One such example is the mother of Omar (not his real name), who saw her son ‘sentenced’ by the court to do 25 hour of community service helping out at the Central kitchen of Washington D.C., 8 hearings as a judge at the court and 8 sessions of life skills education.
Normally the kids have 90 days in which to serve their sentence, but Omar still hadn’t served even half of his in two and a half months. Thus his mother intervened: despite Omar’s irregularity, her son was getting better and it seemed to her a good idea to go to the tribunal and ask for an extension of the period in which her son could serve his sentence. This was the opportunity for her to get to know the activity of the Time Dollar Youth Court better and she decided to become a volunteer at the hearings on Saturdays and during the holidays.
For his part, Omar seems to have decided to continue to be a jury member, no longer as a “condemned man”, but as a volunteer. Recently Omar obtained a scholarship that will allow him to apply to Princeton University, Hampton University, Salisbury College and Rutgers University. He hopes to attend Princeton University and graduate in law and electronic engineering. (Story taken from Timedollar.org)
(09/06/2006)
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