RESTORATIVE JUSTICE TEEN COURT

Panelist Job  Description

 REMEMBER:

• PUT THE RESPONDENT AT EASE. It is your job to get the respondent to tell the jury about the incident and themselves. Start out with a

“Hi, I’m __your name__ and we just need to ask you some questions.

Can you tell the jury your name, age & where you go to school.”

• ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS! The jury has NO case information and need to know what happened, why the respondent did it, and how the respondent feels about their offense.
• FOLLOW-UP WITH MORE QUESTIONS. Make the questions fit the case & use only those questions which are relevant to that case. If the Respondent’s answer doesn’t make sense, it’s your job to follow-up and get clarification.
• Make notes as the respondent answers that will help you as you deliberate on sanctions. Assess the attitude of the respondent, circumstances surrounding the offense, punishment already administered, and sanctions that are restorative, not retributive.

Below are some examples of questions to use when questioning the respondent. You are not restricted to these questions. 

PERSONAL: The purpose of these questions is to get to know the respondent and help him/her to feel comfortable. The tone should be friendly, in an effort to establish rapport.

1.                  How do you feel about being here?

2.                  How old are you?

3.                  How long have you lived in _________?

4.                  Do you have any brothers & sisters?

If so, how old are they?

5.                  Who do you live with?

6.                  Do you work? If so, where?

How long have you worked there? What specific tasks do you perform at work?

7.                  Have you ever had trouble with the law (before?)

8.                  Do you help at home with chores?  If yes, what do you do?

9.                  What responsibilities do you have?  Do you attend to them well? 

SCHOOL:

10.              Where do you go to school?

11.              What grade are you in?

12.              What activities do you participate in?  (clubs, any offices, sports, honors, grades)

13.              What do you plan to do in the future?

14.              Is your school attendance good? Do you ever skip school?

If so, how often? Why do you skip?

15.              Have you ever been in trouble in school before?

If so, what have you been in trouble for? How long ago was that?

SPECIAL INTERESTS:

16.              What special interests do you have?

17.              What are you most proud of?

REGARDING THE OFFENSE: Remember that the jury does not have any specifics regarding the case. It is the panelist’s job to elicit enough information from the respondent so the jury will have a good understanding of what happened and can put the offense into context. 

18.              Tell us exactly what happened on ___________.

19.              Was anyone with you at the time? If so, how do you know these people?

Whose idea was it to commit the crime? Do you still have contact with these people?

How is your relationship with them now?

20.              Why did you commit the crime?

21.              What are your feelings now about what you did?

22.              Would you feel the same way if you had not been caught?

23.              If you had the chance to do it over again and not get caught, would you commit the offense again?

24.              What would you do next time if you were in a similar situation?

25.              Have you ever committed this type of offense before?

If so, please tell me about that.

26.              Have you committee this offense since the time of THIS incident?

27.              Have you ever been arrested for anything before?

If so, please tell me about that.

Do you still continue to do that illegal activity?

28.              Back to the original offense, how does your crime affect the victim and/or the community?

29.              Did your parents punish you?

If so, what was the punishment?

How long did it last?

30.              Who is paying for the Teen Court fee, you or your parents?

31.              If you were a parent and your child did what you did, what would you have done?

32.              Who did you hate telling about your arrest the most? Why?

33.              What do your friends think about what you did?

34.              What do your parents think about what you did?

35.              What did you learn from this offense?

36.              Do you think you will ever commit this offense again?  Are you sorry?

37.              What do you plan to do to keep from doing this again?

38.              What do you think would be a fair sentence for this offense? 

CONSTRUCTIVE SANCTIONING SHEET

29.              What sanctions do you think you deserve?  Why?

30.              How would you rate your self esteem?  High or low?  Why?

31.              Do you feel that you need to give back to the community? 

MINOR’S QUESTIONS

32.              Do you have any questions about what will happen in the courtroom today?

33.              Is there anything else that you would like the jury to know?

34.              Are you having a hard time answering questions?  Why?