COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A local nonprofit organization is changing the way the community sees juvenile crime.

It is using the positive power of peer influence to stop criminal behavior at its earliest stage.

Teen Court is a different approach to juvenile crime, providing an alternative to the regular municipal court system for first time misdemeanor offenses committed by young people between the ages of 11 and 18.

It is the typical courtroom setting: there is a judge, jury, prosecution and defense. Also, a trial and sentencing by youth for youth, an opportunity for young offenders to make amends and get a second chance.

"They present their case in front of a group of their peers and we judge them and give them their final sentence, and they have three months to fulfill the sentence," Cody Dieterich said.

Dieterich is a senior at Cheyenne Mountain High School. He also volunteers with Teen Court.

He said if defendants do not fulfill their sentences in the allotted period of time, they are sent back to municipal court. Otherwise their offenses are stricken from their permanent records.

"The majority of cases are shoplifting, just minor, under $500 shoplifting, but then there is also fighting, and then the last one is possession," Dieterich said.

Dieterich said only the most serious of cases are sent to trial. Otherwise they are handled by a peer panel and case manager.

He said in many cases the jury is made up of past defendants who come back to help.

"You are basically taking a young adult who has made a mistake and knows they have made a mistake. They have pled guilty and you are helping them get them back on the right track," Josh Wolfaardt said.

Wolfaardt is a freshman at University of Colorado--Colorado Springs (UCCS) and a volunteer with Teen Court. He said the experience is priceless for everyone involved and added "You learn a lot about the U.S. court system and yourself."

"We always want to help the students that come through, not hurt them or punish them," Wolfaardt said.

For more information on how to help Teen Court, long onto its Web site by clicking here.

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