Register | Login
 
South Dakota Teen Courts
Tobacco Survey Minimize

Teen Court Tobacco Survey Link - You will need the provided court assigned User ID and Password and your Unique ID to take the survey.

UEDTC - SD Success Story Minimize

Check out South Dakota's Success Story in the September update of the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center - Monthy Resource Alert.

Mission Statement

The South Dakota Teen Court Association encourages the development of new teen courts in South Dakota, seeks to enhance and sustain existing teen court programs and promotes interagency cooperation and information sharing among state and national teen courts.

About Us

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.

 

2010 Mock Trial Competition Minimize

 

PIERRE – Central Teen Court’s Northern Division claimed the team championship title at the 2nd Annual Statewide Teen Court Mock Trial Competition. The South Dakota Teen Court Association hosted the 2nd Annual Statewide Teen Court Mock Trial Competition February 19 – 20, 2010, in Pierre.
 
Central Teen Court – Northern Division was represented by youth volunteers from Sully and Potter Counties. The team accumulated more points than any other team in the competition to claim this year’s title. Central Teen Court – Northern Division is a program of Capital Area Counseling Services of Pierre.
 
In addition to the team championship, individual participants were honored for their performances during the competition. Rachel Day of Highmore repeated as the Best Bailiff in the competition and Mariah Bloom and Adrienne Eisenbeisz of Aberdeen won Best Prosecuting Attorneys in their first year of participating. Other individual winners were:
 
Best Jury:       Lawrence/Meade County Jury
 
Best Defense Attorneys:      Jesse Todd (Onida) - Central Teen Court – Northern Division
                                                Michala Jones (Pierre) – Central Teen Court
 
Best Prosecuting Attorneys:                        Mariah Bloom (Aberdeen) – Brown County
                                                            Adrienne Eisenbeisz (Aberdeen) – Brown County
 
Best Bailiff:    Rachel Day (Highmore) representing Central Teen Court
 
Best Team:    Central Teen Court – Northern Division
 
The Teen Court Mock Trial Competition was sponsored by the South Dakota Defense Lawyers Association, May Adam, Gerdes & Thompson law firm of Pierre, Cutler & Donahoe law firm of Sioux Falls, Fuller & Sabers of Sioux Falls, Mortenson law firm of Fort Pierre, Turbak Law Offices of Watertown, and Woods, Fuller, Schultz & Smith law firm of Sioux Falls.
 
The Teen Court Mock Trial Competition showcased the talents of the volunteers of the teen court programs across the state and highlighted the principles of restorative justice that guide these peer-to-peer programs. 
 
Each teen court program competing in the Mock Trial Competition was judged in three rounds of competition. Each round presented the teams with a different fact pattern and defendant, and the team was judged on how well they addressed the offense by the defendant and determined a constructive sentence to address the harm to the community and help the defendant understand the consequences of his actions. Individuals acting as defense attorneys, prosecution attorneys and bailiffs were judged on their roles on the process in achieving the goals of the team.

Mock Trial Champions 2010 - Central Teen Court Northern Division