Del Norte County is in the early stages of bringing back an initiative dissolved decades ago that will allow local teens who commit a first-time, non-violent offense, such as fighting, shoplifting or graffiti, to take accountability and repair harm without getting involved in the justice system.

The ultimate goal is to provide young people a chance to grow and learn from their mistakes, said Jeff Harris, superintendent of the Del Norte Unified School District and Del Norte County Office of Education.

“A kid does something that we would expect a kid to do, and we can either respond with punishment or we can respond with correction. And as a site principal, as a superintendent, my real belief is discipline is only what we do when every other means of correction has failed,” Harris said. “We want to change behavior, we don’t want to punish behavior. Punishment is a last resort, and I think that’s what the teen court is. It is another way to help correct behavior before we have to punish the student.”

Ideally, the program will also provide students an opportunity for guidance and mentorship, and boost civic engagement throughout the community, he said.

“This is a way that we rebuild some of the concepts around civic engagement, of personal responsibility, of mitigating the harm that somebody has done to either one other person or a group of people or the community through this restorative practice of going through a teen court where they have to voluntarily engage and work with adults and others in our community to meet whatever criteria they need to meet in order to exit from the process,” Harris explained.

The county’s budding teen court is a diversion program meant to help teens who have committed minor crimes get back on track. Managed by teenagers with adult oversight, young people are trained to run the courtroom with a focus on restorative justice and harm reduction.

If a student is caught on campus with a small amount of marijuana, for example, they would be given the choice: face the usual consequences (e.g. suspension, expulsion, referral to the juvenile justice system), or accept responsibility and work with a court of their peers to come up with a solution, such as mental health counseling and community service. Teen court participants must also be trained as jurors themselves and participate in at least three juries in the future.

Harris noted that for many young people, getting to reflect on their actions and choose a path forward may be the first time they have a sense of agency in determining what happens to them.

“It may be the first time they’ve ever been allowed to make a choice about the outcome of one of their poor decisions. It’s not the adult that they’re used to yelling at them. It’s not the response that they’re used to getting,” Harris said. “It’s that metacognitive, ‘step back for a second, think about what you’re thinking about.’ And that can be a very profound thing for a student. They’ve never thought about their thoughts. They’ve reacted to situations, and this provides a different way of engaging them. And even though they may make another mistake, this is an opportunity for them to really start learning those more mature skills and to engage with their place in the world in a different way than we currently have available to them.”

As a small, rural county, Del Norte has less access to support services and other resources than its urban counterparts. About 15 percent of people live in poverty, and many struggle with substance abuse or trauma that often trickles down to the younger generation.

State data shows that in March 2024, over 24 percent of Medi-Cal members ages 0-20 who were screened for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) had a score of four or more. ACEs include experiencing or witnessing violence, abuse or neglect; growing up in a home environment with substance abuse or mental health problems; or experiencing family or parental separation.

In addition to being at a higher risk of physical health issues like kidney, heart and lung disease, individuals with four or more ACEs are 4.7 times more likely to experience depression, 10.2 times more likely to face substance use disorders, and their risk of experiencing homelessness increases by two to four times.

Through the teen court, Harris said county officials are aiming to break some of the negative cycles that families and students find themselves in through early intervention and prevention. In addition to Del Norte schools, the program includes partners from local courts, tribes, nonprofits and law enforcement.

“This is a great example of what our community does on so many different levels, where we have these great partnerships that come together because, where we are, we’re too small to do it on our own as individual organizations, but we’re too large not to do something,” he said. “And when you have nonprofits and government and schools and private individuals all coming together to say, ‘How can we make this work?’ I think that’s one of those things that make our community really unique, and it makes our kids the hub of the wheel. And all of our organizations are spokes that come together to support that hub, to move that child forward.”