Owasso Youth Court Provides Early Intervention Needed To Impact At-Risk Youth

Have you ever heard someone say “children are our future” and dismissed it as some overused cliché? Whether overused or not, it’s true. The children of today are the future doctors, teachers, judges, entrepreneurs, and leaders of our communities. Therefore, we must ask are we doing all that we can to prepare them for the future, and prevent them from slipping into patterns that set them up to fail.

Owasso has deliberately focused significant attention, time and resources on public safety initiatives which have resulted in a low crime rate for our community, and consequently have provided a safe environment for families to raise their children. Even with low crime rates, Owasso has youthful offenders and takes seriously the responsibility of helping these children. If we are committed to raising successful future leaders, it is important that at-risk youth not be forgotten and only focus attention on those already heading down the right path.

The Youth Court program in Owasso started in 2008 as a means to reach at-risk youth with a goal of early intervention to provide the support needed to turn young lives in a direction toward success. Owasso has partnered with Youth Services of Tulsa to set up a court in which youth participate on two levels, as defendants, and as trained Youth Court attorneys and judges. The cases heard by the Youth Court do not include crimes of a more serious nature, such as drug, alcohol or assault and battery. Those cases are still best handled by the juvenile court system. However, youth whose cases are referred to Youth Court have the opportunity to be represented and adjudicated by their peers. This provides an experience that positively impacts both sides of the equation.  Youthful offenders learn that there are consequences for their actions and learn the importance of making better decisions going forward. Volunteers for the program learn about leadership and the impact of becoming stakeholders in the community. All youth learn more about citizenship, the significance of the laws enacted, and the outcome to the community if those laws are violated. Statistics show that Youth Courts have a positive impact on recidivism rates, thus lowering juvenile crime, and that early intervention helps youth improve decision making skills.

In addition to Youth Court, Owasso has proactively initiated other juvenile intervention programs: the School Resource Officer program, which has successfully placed officers in the schools where they can directly interact with the teachers and youth on a daily basis; a First Offenders program that includes a community service component; and an Early Intervention Program that can refer youth to counseling and other intervention programs as ordered.   

Placing appropriate emphasis on early intervention with children is clearly as important to the future of our City as any decision we make. Continuing the Youth Court program is one step in providing the intervention needed to help guide youth down the right path. When supported by the community, a child’s life can be transformed by understanding the consequences of bad decisions and learning proper decision making skills. This develops productive youths who have the potential to become the future leaders we envision.