Since Sarasota created its first teen court in 1988, 53 Florida counties have followed suit
By Jessie Van Berkel
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Eleven years have passed since Stefan Campagna was charged with his 27th felony in Sarasota but he still will wake up in a cold sweat, dreaming he was back, booked in jail once again.
The clean-cut 27-year-old, who was dressed in a suit and lavender tie, said he will not disassociate himself from his past — from the 16-year-old who busted into cars with a group of friends and had an “I dunno” mentality when he was asked why he did it.
That past will help him connect with people in his future.
“People listen more to someone they can relate to,” Campagna said at a celebration of Sarasota County’s youth court.
Campagna is the poster child for the court. The Sarasota native graduated in May from Hofstra University College of Law in New York and was honored as a newly-minted member of the Florida Bar earlier this month. He is coordinating for the National Association of Youth Courts.
“He’s gotten every award we’ve given out,” said Katie Self, who has coordinated the teen court since six months after it was created in 1988.
It was the first court of its kind in Florida. It places youths who plead guilty to an offense in a unique setting, where people their age act as the bailiff, defense, prosecution and jury. Volunteers from local high schools determine the punishment for their peers. If the defendant completes their requirements, the charges are dismissed.
For Campagna, the requirement was 18 rounds of jury duty at the teen court and 150 hours of community service.
“Initially I wasn’t very receptive to much of anything,” he said.
But after watching all the other teens move through the system, it clicked — he, and they, needed a better reason than “I dunno” to justify their actions.
He told himself he would likely end up in court again, and he had better be on the right side of the bench. So he went on to study law.
A couple of the high schoolers who volunteered as teen attorneys in the courtroom said they are also interested in becoming lawyers. Others said the experience honed their public speaking skills, and counted for extra credit.
Then there were students like Patrick White-Thompson, a Sarasota High graduate who was caught roughhousing at a bus stop and after one round of obligatory teen court jury duty, decided to get involved in the program. White-Thompson was one of nine students who received scholarships totaling $9,000 — the money was raised from a golf tournament, Self said.
Since Sarasota created its teen court in 1988, 53 Florida counties have followed suit, according to the Florida Association of Teen Courts. And the number of courts nationwide has grown over the past few decades. Campagna even helped create a youth court in Nassau County, New York, where he went to law school.
Not all the youth who make it through the courts have Campagna’s success — one of the kids who went through the system with him re-offended a month into the teen court program and ended up in prison.
There have not been many studies done on the courts’ effectiveness in reducing repeat offenders, according to the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency. One of the largest reviews looked at courts in Alaska, Arizona, Maryland and Missouri in 2002, and generally found recidivism was less frequent for people who went through teen court.
But for Campagna, the difference is evident.
