Juvenile Court seeking volunteers

If you are interested in contributing some time to young people who are trying to repair the harm they’ve caused in their individual communities, then the Pinal County Juvenile Court has a volunteer opportunity for you.

Restorative Justice Panels involve community members working alongside court staff to hold youthful offenders personally responsible for their actions and help guide them toward repairing the harm they caused to victims and their community. This is accomplished by having the family meet with community members to discuss the offense, what they are doing to make positive changes, how they will repair that harm and providing consequences.

Maricopa has its own panel, which meets monthly in the evening with a time commitment averaging two hours. Other area communities, including Casa Grande, Coolidge, Florence, Eloy, Apache Junction and Queen Creek, also have panels.

Volunteers are required to go through a reference and fingerprint check as well as a volunteer orientation, which is held on a quarterly basis. An orientation is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, 2009 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. in Florence. Registration is required.

If you are interested in getting involved in your community, please contact Donna McBride at 520-866-4098 or [email protected].

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