16th (Jefferson Park) Police District Peer Jury moderators hope the program can restart due to positive effect it has had on young offenders, as peer jury has not met in 2 1/2 years

by BRIAN NADIG

The peer jury at the 16th (Jefferson Park) Police District has not met in at least 2 1/2 years, and the jury’s adult moderators hope that will soon change due to the positive effect they say program has had on young offenders.

The jury consists of teens who decide on the punishment for juveniles who have agreed to their guilt in relatively minor offenses such as possession of marijuana or alcohol, graffiti and theft.
“We had kids that changed their life trajectory,” jury moderator Ian Thomson said at the Aug. 18 meeting of the 16th District Advisory Committee. “It’s getting to the kids as early as possible.”

Being of a similar age as the offender, jury members are able to  “zone in” on the issues, leading to good discussions, Thomson said. Some of the offenders have gone to serve on the jury themselves and eventually pursued careers in law enforcement or social work, he said.

Writing letters of apology or performing community service are among the actions which the jury can assign the offenders, whose cases can be referred to Juvenile Court for further consideration if they fail to complete their assignment.

The district’s peer jury was formed about 20 years ago and typically received about 50 to 60 cases, with a high of about 100 cases in one year, Thomson said. “It was one of models for the city,” he said.

However, the number of case referrals to the jury declined significantly in recent years, coming to a halt with the onset of the pandemic in 2020, said jury moderator Ed Quartullo. He added that the cases really on referrals from youth detectives and that he and Thomson would be happy to meet with the detectives division to explain the benefits of the program.

Advisory committee chairman Thomas Bucaro reported that at a recent-all-city DAC meeting there was supposed to be an update on the status of the peer jury program but that the “update was that there was no update … we’re working on it.”

It was reported at the 16th District meeting that one of the city’s 22 police districts is still holding peer jury sessions but several have been inquiring when their programs will restart. Combining some of the peer juries in the city reportedly has been considered in the past.

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