Teen Court Program

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2012 Teen Court Program grants (TCP). The purpose of this program is to provide substance abuse treatment services and related recovery support services to youth with substance abuse and/or co-occurring treatment needs involved in a teen court program. SAMHSA is focusing on preventing crimes by diverting youth with substance abuse treatment needs, from deeper penetration into the traditional juvenile justice system. Expected outcomes for this program for the participating youth include reduced substance use; reduced criminal activity; improved health; better quality of life; and increased productivity. For the purposes of this RFA, teen court, youth court, student court and peer court will collectively be referred to as "teen court." Teen courts are peer-run courts where youth sentence their peers for minor delinquent and status offenses and other problem behaviors. These programs provide positive alternative sanctions for first-time offenders by providing a peer-driven sentencing mechanism, which allows young people to take responsibility, to be held accountable, and to make restitution. Currently, teen courts do not provide substance abuse treatment, and most do not provide referrals to substance abuse treatment. This program is designed to divert youth with substance abuse treatment needs from entry into the traditional juvenile justice system by providing such treatment. Teen court programs are administered by a variety of agencies including juvenile courts, juvenile probation departments, law enforcement, private nonprofit organizations, and schools. There are four primary teen court models: Adult Judge, Youth Judge, Peer Judge, and Youth Tribal Models. For more information on teen courts, see Appendix J. Applicant teen courts must be operational on or before October 1, 2012. Operational is defined as a having a set of cases and seeing respondents in the teen court. In alignment with the goals of SAMHSA’s Strategic Initiative: Trauma and Justice, this program will help reduce the pervasive, harmful, and costly health impact of violence and trauma by integrating trauma-informed approaches throughout health, behavioral health, and related systems and addressing the behavioral health needs of people involved in or at-risk of involvement in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. By providing needed treatment services, this program is intended to reduce the health and social costs of substance abuse and dependence to the public, and increase the safety of America’s citizens by reducing substance abuse related crime and violence. TCP is one of SAMHSA’s services grant programs. SAMHSA intends that its services grants result in the delivery of services as soon as possible after award. Service delivery should begin by the 4th month of the project at the latest.  Teen Court Program grants are authorized under 509 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Substance Abuse Topic Area HP 2020-SA.

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