Sheriff's Office to partner with Teen Court — what is it?

The Osceola County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Marcos Lopez announced this week that his agency has partnered with Osceola County Teen Court to offer community service hours to juveniles that received community service as part of their diversion agreement.

He made the announcement Saturday in St. Cloud, where 11 juveniles were completing sentences with community service hours.

Teen Court is a first-time offender diversion program designed for those12-19 years old (younger volunteers will be accepted on a case-by-case basis) who run afowl of the law to create sanctions that are constructive and rehabilitative, rather than creating a court record for the teen and a bigger docket for the juvenile court system.

Teen Court is based upon the premise that youthful offenders will more readily accept responsibility for their actions when judged and sentenced by their peers. A similarlyaged jury can issue sanctions such as essays, letters of apology , curfews and restitution. The defendant has five weeks to complete the jury’s sentence. Once the sentence is completed, the case is dismissed by the State Attorney’s office. If the defendant fails to complete the sentence, the case is referred back to formal Juvenile Court. 

Lopez said he relishes the chance to work closely with our judges and juvenile probation officers.

“We take pride in our juvenile outreach division joining this mentorship program to work with juveniles who are starting to stray and ensure they are back on the right track and prevent them from going to jail in the future," he said. "This is one of the first juvenile probation outreach programs of its kind in Osceola County."

Osceola County Teen Court is held on Wednesday evenings at the Osceola County Courthouse on the fifth floor at 4:30 p.m. Those who volunteer receive three hours of community service for jury duty. Volunteers who serve as teen attorneys, court clerks or court deputies receive four hours of community service for their work.

For more information on Teen Court, contact the Osceola County Clerk's Office Juvenile Department at 407-742-3575.