Metropolitan Education District

Press Release

Metropolitan Education District
760 Hillsdale Ave
San Jose, CA 95136
October 24, 2011

Contact: Michelle Alaimo
Communication Specialist
(408) 723-6464
malaimo@metroed.net

CCOC Students Volunteer for Santa Clara County's Peer Court Program

More than 30 Central County Occupational Center (CCOC) Probation & Legal Careers students are volunteering as "peer court members" as part of Santa Clara County's Peer Court program. The pilot program will begin hearing cases in November of juveniles between ages 14-17 who have already plead guilty.

For CCOC students, the county's Peer Court program is the perfect opportunity to immediately use the skills they are learning in their daily three hour Probation & Legal Careers course that they take as part of their high school requirements. In Peer Court, students serve on cases in a variety of courtroom roles that rotate. Roles offered to student volunteers include prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, clerk/bailiff, jury foreperson, and jury.

"Peer Court allows students to see how a courtroom really operates," CCOC Probation & Legal Careers instructor, Mark Adams, said. "This is an incredible opportunity for CCOC students to become familiar with the legal system by participating in real cases."

The cases that are heard in Peer Court are for misdemeanor crimes such as theft, vandalism, and assault and battery. Peer Court was first introduced by Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese during his State of the County address in January. Cortese said, in his speech, that Peer Court "will empower previous youth offenders to hold accountable their fellow youth, and have the added benefit of exposing youth to the workings of the criminal justice system and hopefully inspire our next generation of attorneys, judges and probations officers."

So far the Peer Court program has held information sessions at CCOC and Andrew Hill High School with an outstanding response, Cortese said. More than 60 high school students have volunteered with the majority of students coming from CCOC. "For CCOC students, this program is a really good fit," Cortese said. All volunteers must attend mandatory training sessions and sign confidentiality statements. Students can choose to accept or deny an assignment and may opt out at any time prior to signing onto a case.

Many CCOC students said that they thought the training would be overwhelming to someone without a legal background or who isn't taking a class such as CCOC's Probation & Legal Careers.

"We had already heard and learned a lot of the legal terms mentioned at the Peer Court training in our CCOC class," Bianco Lozano from Liberty High School, said. "It helped make it more understandable and not overwhelming."

During court sessions, a Superior Court volunteer judge presides over the case. A teen defense and prosecution attorney present the case to the teen jury. As with any case, the facts and evidence are presented. The jury then deliberates and decides on the sentence for the offender. The offender then signs a contract to complete the sentence. If the contract is not completed, the offender is returned to the Juvenile Probation Department for prosecution or consequences.

The goal of Peer Court is to stop juveniles from developing a criminal behavior pattern and help them form a better attitude toward those in authority. Lozano said that a lot of teenagers don't want to hear the advice that adults are giving them so that sometimes it is better to take advice from other teenagers.

Krysandra Lujan-Verdugo from Wilcox High School agreed with Lozano. "Because we are also teenagers, we see things from their perspective and can relate better."

The first case is scheduled to be held November 1 at the Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse in San Jose, Cortese said. He added that Peer Court sessions will be held twice a month with a total of four to six trials being heard each month.

MetroED is the largest career-oriented organization in Santa Clara County comprised of high school and adult career-technical, and academic programs, which include Central County Occupational Center (CCOC) and the Metropolitan Adult Education Program (MAEP).

MetroED annually provides more than 10,000 diverse students with the skills to help them be productive, income earning and tax-paying contributors to Silicon Valley.