The court is run by teens.

The jury, the lawyers and the defendants are all teens.

That's how Teen Court of Santa Fe County operates. It's a national program that was adopted in Santa Fe in 1994.

The court's purpose is to take teenagers who are first-time offenders and have been convicted of misdemeanors such as drug and alcohol possession, or traffic violations, and provide a restorative justice plan around their crime.

Alice Sealy, the program's manager, and Jennifer Romero, a program coordinator, held an attorney training night on Sept. 21.

The free annual training was open to any teen interested in becoming an attorney for the program. This year's participation was one of the largest turnouts, with 40 teens showing up.

During the training, the recruits were taught how to conduct interviews with their clients and how to defend and prosecute a teen going through the teen court system. Training is done by professional lawyers who practice in New Mexico.

Instead of issuing a slap on the wrist to every offender, teen court creates a pertinent sentence for the defendant. A teenager charged with graffiti, for example, may have to complete a graffiti cleanup program as well as attend a class on vandalism. A teen offender may also be assigned community service hours and jury duty for teen court. Certain classes and drug tests can be tacked on, depending on the individual's case.

"Without the teens, we couldn't operate. They're great, and we've always used them as our attorneys," said Sealy, adding that it's not unusual to hear at least 600 cases a year.

Sealy said she loves her job, a position that came years after her own experience as a defendant at teen court.

"I first found out about it when I got a speeding ticket and was sentenced to 21 hours of community service. ... but instead of doing 21 hours, I've done 16 years," Sealy said.

Although the idea of teens operating a program might seem chaotic, Sealy says they've never experienced problems they couldn't solve.

"The only incident we had was when we found two of our attorneys tested positive for illegal substances. Instead of kicking them out we sent them through the program as any defendant would go through, and after they completed their course, they reapplied and became teen attorneys once again. We always give our teens a second chance. In fact, most of our attorneys are previous offenders and that's how they learned about us."

According to the National Association of Youth Courts, five youth court programs operate in New Mexico.

The association's online data indicate that more than 1,000 teen court programs exist in the U.S. The programs are structured to provide "positive alternative sanctions for first-time offenders by providing a peer-driven sentencing mechanism that allows young people to take responsibility, to be held accountable and to make restitution. Positive peer pressure is used in youth courts to exert influence over adolescent behavior."

At least 99 percent of the participating courts use community service as a sentencing option, 61 percent use restitution and 57 percent require alcohol and drug assessments.

Ben Robert Zamora, a sophomore at St. Michael's High School and a new teen attorney, discovered teen court through a friend. He hopes the experience enriches his skill and résumé. Zamora and other teen attorneys realize how difficult it can be to sentence a fellow teen, but most said they would find a way around it.

"I know sooner or later I will have a tough case and will probably have to prosecute a teen that may not deserve the sentence I'm arguing for, but I can always walk away knowing that only some of their time will be wasted rather than them being sent to jail," Zamora said.

Sara Langone, a Capital High School student, has been a teen attorney for one year and still loves her job, she said.

"I want to be a lawyer when I grow up and being a teen attorney seemed like a great opportunity to get experience in that area," said Langone, who first learned about Teen Court when the Teen Action Program, a service learning program, began at Capital.

"It can be difficult to sentence teens sometimes, but sometimes you just do what you have to do and go on," Langone said.

Austin Tyra is a sophomore at SER Career Academy. You can reach him at wannabewriter20@yahoo.com.