Research Symposium

BIO

Thalia Dorisca is a first-year student at Florida State University, majoring in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences with a concentration in Law and Society on the Pre-law track. Her current research explores the effects of Teen Courts on recidivism through qualitative analysis. Beyond research, she currently serves on the Freshman Class Council as the Outreach Chair, where they utilize programming to create various events that foster community within the university. Her career aspirations include becoming a lawyer and advocating for underrepresented communities, just as she did with her film The Drive, which advocated for the homeless community. The Drive and her academic achievements were recognized by the Miami Herald with a Silver Knights Honorable Mention and by FSU with the 2025 Torch Knight Award, given to the top forty first-year students. As her academic journey continues, she wishes to acquire new skills and contribute to the community.

Accessing Florida's Teen Court Procedures: Leon County

Abstract

Teen Courts are a diversionary program meant to provide juveniles with an alternative route to that of the traditional justice system, which prioritizes punitive means. The hope is that through a restorative justice approach, including peer involvement to promote accountability and reflection, the juvenile will come to understand the harm they have caused to society, leading to a lower recidivism rate among juveniles. In our research project, we aim to identify the innovative practices and procedures that take place across Teen Courts in Florida and view the mechanisms through which they reduce recidivism. To achieve this, a comparative analysis of Leon County and Alachua County Teen Courts was conducted, focusing on qualitative data gathered through observation reports from various site visits to Teen Court sessions. The observations showed that Leon County employs a “Quality over Quantity” approach to handling Teen Court cases, by taking on one case per session, having teen attorneys who were trained by a Teen Attorney Supervisor, as well as modifying their process to a Tribunal-style teen court session to accommodate sensitive cases. Considering these findings in conjunction with Alachua’s as well as future observations of other Teen Courts in Florida, we seek to pinpoint optimal procedures for Teen Courts nationwide to adopt.

Keywords: Teen Court, Political Science, Sociology