The Youth Aid Panel of Luzerne County is a diversionary program with which most residents are unfamiliar. Although
most might never have heard of it, many young people have gone through the program and are moving forward in a new,
improved direction! It is a program of balance and restorative justice that allows the community to re-establish its role in the lives of our youth and what happens in the community.
We can all recall students engaging in “kid stuff” in school. For a period, errors in judgment had consequences beyond school discipline due to a zero-tolerance policy.
Our county has empaneled ten Youth Aid Panels (YAPs)-from Dallas to Hazleton
comprised of community volunteers. They meet once a month in different locations with the parents and the student
involved in the altercation or incident. Referrals come from School Resource Officers, who are the police in our twelve school districts, or from District Justices or police handling juveniles outside of school. Each case is
reviewed by an Assistant District Attorney before being referred to YAP. The program was established to enable the child to understand the seriousness of their crime and its effect on them, their family, their victim, and the community.
Given the choice to participate in the Youth Aid Panel as opposed to the traditional legal system involving probation, fines, etc., the youth must take responsibility for his or her transgression. The panels discuss what happened and they try to get to know the students, their likes and dislikes, their families, and often their future aspirations.
The student is assigned projects to complete including apology letters, research projects, and community service. When the panel is satisfied the student understands the offense, appreciates its harm and is repentant for his or her conduct, and completes the projects, the charges can be dismissed and the record expunged.
It’s important to note our panel volunteers are trained to handle YAP cases, who must be Luzerne County residents, eighteen years of age or older, and have Child Abuse and Background checks completed. These panels need YOU to get involved and to make a difference in the life of a child. Volunteers are needed in your area.
Parents surveyed after the completion of the program have noted a change in their sons and daughters who thereafter look to the future with more respect and focus. For more information, please visit www.luzernecounty.org, or call 570-820-6335.
Working together makes our community stronger. If you have a cause near to your heart and want to make a difference here in Northeastern Pennsylvania and beyond, please call us at the Luzerne Foundation or visit www.luzfdn.org for more information.
Do you want to make our community better? So do we. Let’s do it together.
Because of you and for you, we are… Here for good. ™
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