A Mentor's Reflections |
Jabari Osaze, mentor for the Harlem Youth Court at the time this story was written, talks about what and how its participants learn: 
One of the most difficult things in Youth Court training is trying to teach young people to disagree without being disagreeable.
Adults have difficulty with that, and because I believe young people are a lot more honest than adults are, they have even
more difficulty. If they think that your idea stinks, they’ll tell you your idea stinks! But that’s not necessarily
the thing you need to say for the betterment of the group. So we work with them extensively on dealing with their disagreements.
Neutral language is one of the skills that they have the most difficulty with, probably because young people are a little
bit more honest than adults are. [To hear an audio clip, with Real Player
with wav] Honesty doesn’t necessarily have to be
rudeness though, and that’s one of the things that we work with them on. Neutral language is generally the
ability to attempt to cater your communication to your audience in a way that they can hear you. It means that you
shouldn’t use language that offends them, you shouldn’t use tones that offend them, you really need
to be careful how you speak to people, and to be sure that you’re clear about not only who you’re
speaking to, but also how you would want them to communicate to you also. It’s probably the skill that, when
they really begin to understand, they use more than others in other environments. A neutral language speaker is a
speaker that can be effective in business, in college, in academia—can be effective almost anywhere. It’s
finding a language that both parties can use, and understand. Certainly many of us learn how to use a language that
is the most offensive—I think it’s a defense mechanism. We use it because we want to offend people. A lot of times
when we’re so caught up in offending people, the intended receiver has no clue what you’re trying to
say—so even in trying to offend someone you’re not even being very accurate! It’s so important for us to
think about our receiver, to think about who’s actually hearing the message.
[Youth Court participants] really do take away tangible skills. [To hear an audio clip,
with Real Player
with wav] I do believe that
they’re more focused, they consider the alternatives more, they focus on their actions and the effects of their
actions more than their peers do. They’re able to speak more comfortably in public, more articulately about their ideas.
They’re able to distill agreement and disagreement in conversations. Those are complex skills—skills that many of us
never acquire. The ability to think critically based on very little information is very difficult. Additionally, they become
extremely persuasive people. We have one member who spent the summer selling cellular phones over the telephone,
and her supervisors could not understand why she was so successful. And speaking to her, she says they need to go
through Youth Court!
I’ve noticed that members have become sophisticated enough that not only will they ask questions in
different ways, but sometimes they’ll ask a question, they won’t get a response, they’ll ask
a series of other questions and then they’ll come back to the [original question]. [In this case] the jury
asked a lot more questions than they usually do. In fact there was a point when the judge had to restrict their questions.
Because they weren’t getting a lot of answers, they had to come at it from a few different angles. If he wasn’t
answering any of them, then we would have probably stopped the case, but the very fact that he was answering some
questions, and that there were others that he wasn’t answering, meant that they were going to continue.
For example, there was a point where he was asked about how he thought it affected the community, and several
members asked him that. When he wasn’t giving a really clear answer, one of the members said, “Do
you know what that means?” Didn’t do it right away--they sort of let up a little bit. So they actually
take their time in trying to get information sometimes, when they’re probing in an area that can be really
tender. I think that they’re developing some sophistication in the way they ask questions as a group,
which is something I don’t think we anticipated. They work together as a group to get all the information.
One of the things we talk about is the importance of working in a group. Certainly, there are times when you
work in a group that your individual interests are not always served. There are times that you are not
necessarily pleased with the product. But you’re working in a group. So we talk some about that,
and we also talk about how you try to incorporate the perspectives of the people who may be on the fringe.
That jury has the most difficult job imaginable, they really do.
[To hear an audio clip, with Real Player
with wav] Juries anywhere
, in any system, have a difficult job, because they have to get information, supposed facts, from someone who
is reticent and then they try to piece the picture together and then decide what is an appropriate way to sanction
or punish someone. In addition to that, we have a Youth Court jury that has to come up with a decision in a much
shorter period of time than most juries do. Many juries have as much time as they need. So it really is amazing
that they’re able to accomplish as much as they do in such a short period of time. The only way they are
able to do it is to have the process be very structured. Structured in the way that they’re able to express
their concerns, express their perspectives, and express their feelings about the case, but also a structure that
allows us to find a sanction, or not.
Youth Courth Extensions
More about the Harlem Youth Court
A WKCD interview with mentor Jabari Osaze
Hear audio clips of Harlem Youth
Court members
Resources and information on youth
courts nationwide
Read more of this WKCD feature story, "Making Peace, Restoring
Justice"
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