Wilson County officials presented an update on Team Court, a community-led juvenile diversion program that recruits student and youth volunteers to serve as jurors in delinquency and unruly cases. The presentation said Team Court restarted after COVID and has been rebuilding volunteer participation and community outreach.

The presenter described the program's intake and courtroom process: youth referred to Team Court attend a pre-court intake, waive certain rights by agreement (nolo contendere/no contest), tell their side of the story in the courtroom and then face deliberation by youth jurors who recommend sanctions. Sanctions typically include community-service tasks (for example, collecting a five-gallon bucket of cigarette butts), curfews, classes and apology letters. Participants have 90 days to complete assigned tasks; successful completion leads to dismissal and potential expungement, while failure or new charges returns the case to the juvenile court docket.

Program leaders reported growing juror turnout (examples cited: June 10+, July 16, August 39, September 26) and said the November docket included 13 youth (about 10 trials because of codefendants) with additional intakes scheduled for December. The presenter listed a schedule of guest speakers planned for upcoming months and said the program graduated 20 seniors last year, awarding small scholarships, community-service credit and cords for graduation.

Team Court received a $2,500 grant from a local health-and-welfare fund and has applied for additional funds from opioid-settlement money. The program charges a $30 court cost for participants that is returned to the program budget, and staff said volunteers and local civic partners supply guest speakers and some administrative support. Team Court meets on the second Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in Judge Kane's courtroom; the program is not broadly advertised but is open to referrals through juvenile court staff and the new-services office.