Welcome to the BHS Teen
Court Homepage!
Teen Court is a fun, energizing way to not only
gain TONS volunteer hours, but also to get to know more fun, energetic people
like yourself.
Despite a reputation for the
courtroom to be boring, Teen Court has been called “Addicting” and “Incredibly
fun”! We meet every Wednesday in room 114 at 2:30 and we hope to see you there!
F.A.Q.
It’s what YOU wanna know
about us.
Who do I contact?
Well. There are three people who will be able to get you volunteering in no time. Those people are:
Sienna Black
Mr. Allen Hyko
And
Cathy Beatty
What’s Teen Court about?
Teen Court is an awesome
court that is run ENTIRELY by teens. We deal with real cases and influence real
people’s lives. This is certainly a high responsibility, however, together, we
embrace the challenge!
What’s the point of Teen
Court?
Well, rather than going to
Diversion where the teen went to be sentenced after having committed their
first crime (They almost always have committed one prior offense), the teen is
sent to Teen Court where they can be judged and tried by their peers. The idea
is that then the offender can be put under the correct type of peer pressure so
that they aren’t as troubled in the future.
What are the different
roles?
As mentioned in the answer
to the first question, Teen Court is run entirely by teens. The different
available roles are:
-Juror (there are about 12
or so of these each case)
-Advocate (there are 4
advocates in each case, two defending and two prosecuting)
-Bailiff
-Clerk
-Judge
Do you have to take certain
steps to be able to participate in different roles?
There are suggested steps
that you take. For instance, in order to really get the feeling of how Teen
Court is run, etc. It is suggested that you be a jury member before any of the
other roles. Then, you can move around between jury duty, advocate roles, being
bailiff, or being the clerk. Once you have fulfilled all of these tasks at
least once, you can apply to be a student judge.
Is our school the only
one involved in Teen Court?
No way! All of the schools
within the boundaries of Whatcom County are welcome to participate! In fact,
many of the schools have it available as a class. Since BHS doesn’t offer that,
some of the teachers are most likely willing to offer extra credit for doing
Teen Court! (I.E. English teachers, US History teachers, etc.) If you know a
teacher that is interested, Please contact Sienna Black.
Time to cut to the chase.
How, exactly, does one retrieve their community service hours?
Well, what you need to do is
fill out one of the yellow forms that you can get from the Activities office,
fill in the hours you have spent on Teen Court matters, and then take the slip
to Mrs. Cathy Beatty at the next Teen Court case night and have her sign it.
Then simply return it to the Activities Office and, woo-lah! Volunteer hours magically appear on your record!