by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
When teens in trouble with the law are sent to most “teen courts”, they are usually tried before a jury of their peers. However, offenders going to Duval County Teen Court might be judged by juries containing a few special teens that have seen their own fair share of trouble in high school.
Duval’s Teen Court somtimes has juries featuring cadets from the Florida National Guard Youth Challenge Academy, a 17-month residential/mentoring high school equivalency program at Camp Blanding for 16- to 18-year-old high school dropouts. The program is designed to give troubled teens a second chance at school while teaching them discipline and important leadership skills.
Kim Walsh, executive director of the Duval County Teen Court, said having the uniformed cadets mixed among the other teen jurors stirs up interest in the Youth Challenge program and shows troubled teens another way of life.
“(Having the cadets) walking the halls and sitting in the juries really gets the attention of the kids and the parents,” Walsh said. “I have had about five or six kids apply for the Youth Challenge program just through teen court.”
Walsh said she likes integrating cadets from the Florida National Guard Youth Challenge Academy into teen court because the program has been a great help to troubled teens in Florida.
“It gives them a high school diploma and it gives them hope,” she said. “It is a great thing for youth in our community that need a way of developing leadership skills.”
While having the uniformed cadets sitting in the juries might look like a scare tactic to some, Walsh said the cadet’s presence is really an exposure tool to help inform the teen offenders about the program.
“My kids learn from them,” Walsh said. “It gives everybody an overview of the justice system and a perspective on what they want at that point in their life. It shows the other kids a good way to stay out of trouble and become productive members of society.”