The mission of Salt Lake Peer Court is to provide peer intervention and positive resources for youth who commit misdemeanor offenses by holding the offenders accountable for their actions and strengthening their ties to school, community, and positive peer role models.  Salt Lake Peer Court, an alternative to juvenile court, is comprised of three components: court hearings, ongoing peer mentoring, and peer mediation.  Referrals are received from Salt Lake City School District police officers, administrators, counselors, and social workers, elementary through high school.  Offenses most frequently received are truancy, fighting, vandalism, theft, trespassing, disorderly conduct, tobacco, and alcohol.

Students conduct court hearings in five juvenile court courtrooms each Thursday evening in the Scott M. Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City.  Approximately 300 youth offenders are referred to Salt Lake Peer Court each school year with 90-95% of the referred youth successfully completing their dispositions.  Many of the Peer Court members and advisors are bilingual, and court sessions are now conducted in Spanish when the need arises.  Translators are used for languages other than Spanish.

The eighty student volunteers, who adjudicate and mentor the youth offenders, receive training in conflict resolution, mediation, communication skills, bias awareness, peer mentoring, state statutes, team building skills, and courtroom procedures.  Restorative justice principles provide the foundation for the non-adversarial approach on which the program is based.  The thirty adult volunteers receive similar training and are assigned to student volunteers with whom they attend the court hearings to provide support and guidance when needed.

In a typical court hearing, a panel of seven student volunteers questions the youth offender and parent(s) to gain an understanding of the youth and the offense. The panel members deliberate and assign a disposition which may include anger management programs; tobacco, drugs, and alcohol programs; truancy classes; parent-teen relationships and life skills classes; written reports; apology letters; restitution; or other community service. During deliberation, one of the Peer Court panel members elects to be the mentor for each offender. The student mentor follows up with a weekly contact, thereby supporting and encouraging compliance, until the disposition is completed.

In the third component of the program, an adult/youth co-mediation team facilitates the mediation process for youth who are referred for fighting. Victim-Offender mediation also is offered. Peer Court student members and advisors who wish to be mediators are given additional mediation training. Salt Lake Peer Court staff train adult and student volunteers statewide and provide assistance and training for communities that want to start their own peer court programs.

The Salt Lake Peer Court is one of three peer courts nationwide to be spotlighted by the American Bar Association, in conjunction with the National Youth Court Center, in their youth court promotional video.