DECATUR - A review of Macon County's Teen Court shows it has kept nearly 100 young offenders out of the juvenile court system, or 62 percent of those it saw, during its first 33 months in operation.

Of the rest, about half committed another crime after completing the Teen Court's 90-day program and half did not finish at all, thereby failing to get their original offense removed from their record.

Although there's no way to know how Macon County compares to other teen courts, State's Attorney Jack Ahola said Monday at a meeting of the county's Juvenile Justice Council that he is pleased this many juvenile defendants are staying out of a court system that's already overburdened.

"It's been very successful so far," Ahola said. "We hope to establish a truancy court using Teen Court as a model."

His remarks came during a presentation by Teen Court Administrator David Kidd in the Richland Community College Center of Hope Academy.

In it, Kidd talked about what the program has accomplished since its jurors - student volunteers from high schools throughout Macon County who have been trained to deal with defendants ages 9 to 16 - began hearing cases twice monthly on Sept. 27, 2004.

"Those coming before us have already admitted their guilt," Kidd said. "The jurors' job is to decide how they're going to repair that harm to the victim and to their own families."

Of 183 defendants seen though June 25 of this year, he said 125 completed the program, 30 did not and another 28 were still in progress, which works out to a completion rate of 81 percent. Of those who completed, three-fourths have committed no further crimes.

Sixty-three percent of defendants were male, 75 percent were ages 14 to 16 at the time of their offense, and 67 percent came from single-parent homes.

The top offenses were battery, 18 percent; retail theft, 13 percent; disorderly conduct, criminal damage to property and possession of cannabis, all 8 percent; and the top places where they were committed were MacArthur High School, north Wal-Mart, Eisenhower High School, Thomas Jefferson Middle School and southeast Wal-Mart.

All defendants must complete three, three-hour sessions called Creating Lasting Family Connections taught by staff at Heritage Behavioral Health Center, one of the unique features of Macon County Teen Court.

Most also are assigned to complete a certain number of community service hours, with the top five service sites being Good Samaritan Inn, Decatur Family YMCA, Oasis Day Center, Old King's Orchard Community Center and Boys & Girls Club of Decatur.

Other sanctions chosen by the pool of 66 jurors who have served on the court since its inception include going to counseling and writing essays and/or apologies.

The Rev. Leroy Smith Jr., executive director of Promise Community Center, said he wants to get parents of the defendants more involved in the restorative justice that Teen Court tries to achieve.

Kidd said other unique features of Macon County Teen Court are that about 30 percent of defendants are repeat offenders and each defendant is assigned a juror to serve as his or her mentor during the process.

Macon County's Teen Court operates on $40,000 to $50,000 annually from a $5 fee charged to Macon County Circuit Court defendants for each judgment of guilty or grant of supervision in traffic and criminal cases, as well as $10,000 from Redeploy Illinois.

Linda Kehart, who admitted she was negative about the Teen Court concept at first, praised its accomplishments and the people behind it.

"This community was extremely lucky to have the right players to pull this off," Kehart said. "We have one of the most comprehensive programs statewide."

Theresa Churchill can be reached at tchurchill@herald-review.com or 421-7978.