The “good side” of the Johnson County Teen Court program celebrated its annual banquet Thursday, honoring teens and individuals responsible for making the program what it is.
Teen Court has been in operation in Johnson County for six years. Its focus is letting teens learn about the court system by staging trials complete with attorneys, judges and defendants, Johnson County Juvenile Services Director Lisa Tomlinson said.
“Teen Court is an opportunity for young people interested in the court process to learn first-hand about the court process,” Tomlinson said.
Teens who serve the court volunteer their time to learn about the legal system. All are upstanding youths who represent the community in positive ways, Teen Court judge Erin Bakker said.
“That is what the kids involved in this program do, and they do a heck of a job,” Bakker said. “That’s getting rarer and rarer these days.”
“They’re just awesome,” Tomlinson said. “They’re leaders in their community, and working in the Teen Court program sometimes brings out the leadership in that kid. They take care of their business, make sure they’re prepared and are highly involved in their schools.”
The teen court program also allows the teens opportunities to collect community service hours for organizations such as National Honor Society, Tomlinson said.
Throughout the night, representatives gave awards to both teens and the judges who volunteer their time to make Teen Court possible. Middle-school theater students were also on hand to present a one-act play called “Surviving Lunch.”
County Judge Roger Harmon, who presented awards to the teens with 413th District Court Judge William Bosworth, said he was particularly proud of the teens involved.
“It’s always an honor to see these young adults participate in Teen Court,” Harmon said. “This is an opportunity they have to grow in life.”
Teen “attorneys” represent other teens who’ve gone to court for minor infractions such as speeding tickets. However, Teen Court is not a replacement for municipal court or justice of the peace court, Tomlinson said. Rather, Teen Court is a supplement to the normal legal process.
“Teen Court does establish guilt or innocence,” she said. “The teen defendant who comes in front of Teen Court has to have pled ‘no contest’ or ‘true’ to the offenses in the original-jurisdiction court.”
Once in Teen Court, prosecuting and defending attorneys present the facts of the case and argue punishment, Tomlinson said. Punishments can consist of anything from community service hours, letter writing, specialized programs or jury duty in future Teen Court trials.
The judges involved in Teen Court are also volunteers, Tomlinson said.
“All of our judges are either licensed attorneys, judges of the JP courts, from the district attorney’s office or the county attorney’s office,” she said.
Many people contribute to Teen Court, but Tomlinson wanted to especially thank the county officials who strive to continue the program.
Burleson High School senior Tony Godfrey, who’s been volunteering with Teen Court all six years, said the experience has been positive for him.
“It opened me up a lot to the different people in the community,” he said.
In his time in Teen Court, Godfrey met many people and was given different perspectives on many subjects he wouldn’t have otherwise had, he said.
“It’s been great,” he said.
Philip Navarrette can be reached at
817-645-2441, ext. 2337,
or reporter@trcle.com.
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