Scales of justice tip toward the young
Participants say Youth Court keeps kids on the right track
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Riverhead Youth Court team (from left) Danielle Oliveras, Heather Zilnicki, Lendiz Alvarado and Mark Gianfalla act as prosecution lawyers during last Thursday's Mock Trial Competition at the Riverhead Senior Center.
The defendant, Steve, was charged with sending threatening text messages to Billy, another made-up 15-year-old football player at a rival high school.
Defense lawyers, played by high school students from Southampton Town, argued that Steve was a troubled boy who just made a mistake, while the prosecution, played by Riverhead High School students, said he was a menace who needed to be stopped before he caused someone physical harm.
Riverhead student Lanise Marshall plays the trial's victim, a football player claiming to have received threatening text messages from a student at a rival school.
Steve was let off with just 10 hours of community service.
Those students were participating in the eighth annual Mock Trial Competition at the Riverhead Town Senior Center in Aquebogue last Thursday, where Youth Court participants from five Suffolk towns, Riverhead, Southampton, East Hampton, Brookhaven and Huntington, gathered to show off their skills in administering justice.
The purpose of the Youth Court "trials" is not to determine innocence or guilt. Instead sentences are handed to young nonviolent first-time offenders by a jury of their peers, often people attending the same high school. Youth Court members assume the role of the prosecution, the defense, the judge and the jury and determine what is the best way for the defendants to pay their debt to society. Sentences can include community service, reparations and letters of apology.
After two rounds of play trials last Thursday, the Southampton team was declared the winner of the competition, sponsored by the Long Island Youth Court Coalition. Riverhead placed fifth.
But participants say the real rewards of the program come from helping someone avoid a life of crime after a run-in through Youth Court -- rather than the annual competition.
"It puts them on a better path and helps them make better decisions," said Longwood High School senior Sydney Adams of the Brookhaven team, which placed second.
It also looks good on a college résumé for someone considering a career in criminal justice, students said.
Lendiz Alvarado, a freshman at Riverhead High School, said the program is great experience because she hopes to become a lawyer. "It prepares me for what I want to do," she said.
In Riverhead, members undergo seven weeks of training before they are able to participate in the program, which meets once a week during the school year.
Mary Hartill, a legal aid attorney who helps train students, said another benefit of the program is that it gives students public-speaking skills.
"It's very rewarding to see Youth Court members progress from being timid and shy, to becoming confident individuals," she said.
Judges acknowledged that some of the students at last week's competition seemed nervous, but said that was OK as long as they did not let it get the best of them.
Patchogue attorney Victor Yannacone, one of the competition's judges, said he would get nauseous before every trial in his many years in the courtroom.
"My father told me, the day you don't feel like that is the day you don't understand the importance of what you are doing," he said.
But members say the seriousness of what they are doing is not lost on them. Riverhead students said they were especially moved recently when a mother started crying in court after her daughter pleaded guilty to shoplifting.
"It can get intense at times," said Lendiz.
vchinese@timesreview.com
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