OVERVIEW

The Community Juvenile Arbitration Program is a community-based diversion program for first-time juvenile offenders charged with committing a nonviolent crime. These youths are diverted from the juvenile justice system to an arbitration hearing conducted in or near the juveniles' communities. Trained volunteer arbitrators conduct the hearings and monitor the juveniles' progress throughout the program, which operates out of 14 of the 16 judicial circuits in South Carolina.

The three goals of the Juvenile Arbitration Program are:

1) To hold juvenile offenders accountable for their crimes and for the harm they cause their victims.

2) To increase the competency and learning of juvenile offenders so they can become productive citizens.

3) To ensure public safety by strengthening a community's capacity to prevent and control crime.

Because volunteers from the juveniles' communities are involved, the arbitration program is an excellent example of balanced and restorative justice. The citizen volunteers develop commonsense solutions to divert at-risk youths from the juvenile justice system.

PROGRAM BASICS

Participants in the arbitration process include a trained citizen volunteer, the juvenile offender and his or her parent(s)/guardian, the crime victim, and the arresting officer. The juvenile's participation is voluntary and requires an admission of facts and guilt. After determining the facts of the case, the arbitrator decides the appropriate actions the juvenile must take to restore justice to his or her victim(s). These actions may include: