Some Manatee County students that have eyes on legal careers are taking part of their lessons outside of the classroom and into the courtroom.
About 40 Manatee County high school students are participating in a County Clerk of the Court program that twice a year creates teen lawyers.
- Manatee County Teen Court
- High School students participate in real cases of other teens
- The cases are held in front of a real judge
The program trains students to defend and prosecute other teens in Manatee County court that had real run ins with the law. The cases are held in front of a real judge every Tuesday but everything else is run by teenagers.
"Its not anything where if you have this juvenile get off its dangerous, these are kids who just make stupid mistakes usually," said Kelley Thompson, a graduate of the Teen Court Lawyer program. "It really helped me submit the decision in my head to become a lawyer, so I just loved it."
When Thompson sat in the student chair, she learned everything from cross examining to understanding arrest reports. She said it was eye-opening.
"We didn't really see these kinds of crimes," Thompson said about being naive of crime in her community. "So the first time I went, I was shocked to see what other teenagers were doing in the community."
Thompson, who will study law at Notre Dame, said she saw cases covering possession of marijuana to retail theft. The teens facing charges already submit their guilty pleas and then face sentencing in the teen court.
"You're really crafting this community that you want to live in," Thompson said. "When you participate in this program and that's what I think is so great about it."