Peer jury program effective in Elgin

Flippant 13-year-old sisters who didn't take very seriously getting into a physical fight with other girls at school.

A contrite 17-year-old girl who said she's never done drugs, even though police found cannabis on her, and vowed to never get in trouble again.

Perhaps not surprisingly, members of the Elgin Police Department's peer jury program meted out vastly different sentences when they judged fellow teens Thursday night.

While the sisters, eighth-graders at Larsen Middle School, were sent to the much stricter "Turning Point" police program for teen offenders, the older girl, a junior at Larkin High School, was told to perform six hours of community service and create a visual "story board" about her life.

The key is for the offenders to take ownership and show they want to change, said juror Omar Velasquez, 17, of Elgin.

"Not all can show remorse and they can see what they have done is wrong," he said. "Most of them, we hope they change afterward. We want to nudge them in the right direction."

Fellow juror Yoana Davalos, 17, of Elgin, agreed. "I do it because I want to help out people, and for them to make better decisions."

Five to seven teenagers, mostly members of Elgin's Police Explorer program, serve on the peer jury, which generally deals with first-time offenders 12 to 17 who commit misdemeanor crimes or felony retail theft, said Detective Jamie Marabillas, the program's police liaison since 2003.

"The whole point of peer jury is to really try and restore the juvenile's place in society and them earning back that sense of self from the community and the family," she said. "We really try to get kids to think outside of themselves."

Peer jurors meet every two months and hear an average of five cases. The majority of the hundreds of offenders in the program has stayed out of trouble afterward, Marabillas said. Detectives and school resource officers determine - after talking to the kids and their parents - who are the best candidates for the program, which does not include gang-related offenses or serious violent offenses to people or property.

The kids must be willing participants and take responsibility for their crimes; if they insist on their innocence, they can choose a court hearing.

Marabillas said she ensures things proceed smoothly and answers legal questions from the jurors, who are in charge of dispositions ranging from three to 40 hours of community service.

"Ultimately it's their choice - that's the whole point of the program," she said. "As long as they can articulate why they feel (the disposition) is appropriate, there's no one better to judge the kids than the kids."

The jurors on Thursday fired off questions such as, "Why did you feel the need to fight at that moment?" "Do you feel regret?" "Reflecting back on the event, is there anything you could have done different?" and even "Are you smiling because you don't care or because you're nervous?"

Posting challenging questions is a must for the jurors, who are always good about reaching a consensus, said Sgt. Gary Neal, the program's coordinator.

The 17-year-old girl with the cannabis charge said she felt more comfortable talking to peers, whose decision she called "fair."

"They didn't act like they were better than me," she said. "(Community service) is not the first thing you want to do on a Saturday, it will be a little bit hard, but I guess it's for a good cause."

Her mother especially liked the story board requirement. "She will do that with a lot of thought behind it," she said. "She will have to deal with herself and her mind."

Still, both mother and daughter said, it might have felt more intimidating - and serious - to be judged by adults, not teenagers.

Several area law enforcement agencies have peer jury programs and the Kane County sheriff's department just started one, said Marabillas, who will take over as coordinator in Elgin later this year.

"There's a big push for it because there's statistics that show the sooner you introduce kids into the court system, the more likely they are to reoffend," she said. "We're trying to divert kids as soon as possible to avoid them from entering the court system."