My name's Christian and I work for Channel 4. We're making a new documentary in which we are trying the American Teen Court program out to see if it will work in the UK. The project has the support of a number of law experts and official bodies across the country who are assisting us in the production process. Additionally David Blunkett has sent the project a letter of encouragement.
In the US Teen Courts are used to handle cases of 14 to 16 year olds accused of first time petty crimes such as parent bashing, graffiting, internet crime, shoplifting, anti-social behavior, vandalism, minor drug taking and underage drinking. They also often have children referred by their school for problems such as bullying. Our series will show 6 teenagers who have admitted to minor anti-social behavior taking part in a teen court proceeding to tell their side of their story. A jury of their peers will then listen to their arguments and set a sentence under the guidance of one of Britain's top barristers, replicating the US system. The sentences to choose from will be a mixture of community service, training, education and citizenship schemes that will be as educational as possible for the individual concerned. Each defendant will also be provided with a mentor. The scheme is successful in the USA as it gives the teenagers a chance to tell their story and be judged by other teenagers who understand the situations they face.
We are looking for teenagers to fill the role of defendant. These applicants will want to tell the story of their anti-social behaviour to a group of their peers and listen to what they have to say on the case. If you have or know a teenager you think would benefit from the project or would be suitable for the show please get in contact as soon as possible. We are also still looking for a small number of Jury members and Lawyers. Youth applying for this should be able to conduct a good argument on topics they feel strongly about. If you know anyone that may be really good for this please get in contact. With time ticking until the main shoot we need to get people on board extremely quickly.
You can contact me on 020 7490 8996 or [email protected] . We are also available on 07906 064 598
Thanks very much, remember if you don't have a suitable teenager we would still love to hear if you can think of people that do.