The first teen court program in South Dakota was established in Lawrence County in 1995. Since the establishment of this first teen court program, teen court programs have increased in number in South Dakota and across the nation. There are currently ten teen court programs in South Dakota and more than 1,300 programs nationwide.
The South Dakota Teen Court Association was established in 2003 to provide technical and networking assistance to teen court programs in South Dakota. The South Dakota Teen Court Association is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization.
The South Dakota Teen Court Association administers the Teen Court Grant Program created by th South Dakota Legislature in 2007. The program provides grants to new teen court programs across the state through a competitive grant application process.