BECKLEY — Middle and high school student by day and attorney or juror by night.

Juveniles charged with misdemeanor crimes in Raleigh County will soon have the opportunity to have their cases adjudicated by their peers.

With the introduction of Teen Court, teenage defendants will have their cases argued by teenage prosecuting and defense attorneys before a jury of fellow teenagers.

The program, new to the county, was announced in Raleigh County Circuit Court Judge John Hutchison’s courtroom Wednesday.

“It’s an unbelievably good educational tool because the kids in the program will be non-violent, juvenile offenders who we believe are appropriate to be diverted out of the criminal juvenile system into the teen court program,” Hutchison said.

Raleigh County’s Teen Court will be managed by the MUSTER Project, an entity that works with county schools and the juvenile court system to deliver mentoring and educational services.

The program will be funded by a legislative statute that allows municipalities, county commissions and government organizations to pass ordinances that permit the assessment of an additional $5 fee on police-issued citations.

The fees will then be passed on to the MUSTER Project, which is run by Beckley Councilman Lee Leftwich, the driving force behind Raleigh County’s Teen Court.

Leftwich explained the method through which Teen Court will operated as diversionary.

Juvenile probation officer Doug Dyer, Leftwich explained, will divert juvenile offenders to go through Teen Court rather than the traditional court process.

Teenage prosecutors and defense attorneys, who will be recruited from local schools and then trained, will argue the cases before a jury of their peers.

The jury will then deliberate and order the defendants to such sentences as community service, essay writing and anger management.

Upon completion of the sentence, a defendant will then return as a juror for two terms.

The only adult in the courtroom during the hearings will be a lawyer or judge.

Should a defendant fail to complete a sentence, Dyer will then have the option to send that person back through the regular juvenile criminal justice system.

“The (Teen Court) record is sealed and they can come back on their original charge and go through the regular system,” Hutchison explained.

Greg Puckett, executive director of the Community Connections Inc., the Bluefield organization that oversees West Virginia’s Teen Courts, said the goal of the process is to “reduce juvenile crime and increase the accountability of the youth participating.”

“You really get to enhance the education of the youth,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for an educational process. If the kids can understand the process better, they are more apt to make the right choices.”

Hutchison said it’s the educational aspect that most excites him.

“The kids are going to have to get in and learn the process,” he said. “They have no choice. If they agree to go to Teen Court, they have to be involved.”

Leftwich said the road ahead will not be easy, but the goal is to have Teen Court up and running by September, when the teens will participate a mock trial that will be open to the public.

— E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com