The Youth Aid Panel (YAP) is a better way of dealing with juvenile first-time summary and misdemeanor offenders. The panel exists to assist the juvenile and district courts. The juvenile offense is reviewed and resolved by a specially designed community panel, the young offender, and his/her parents.

More information is here: https://co.lancaster.pa.us/519/Youth-Aid-Panel

Victims of Offenses

Victims of offenses usually receive restitution and are provided with a means to express the harm that was caused to them by the juvenile's inappropriate actions. It is the aim of the Youth Aid Panel to arrive at a satisfactory resolution. If an impasse develops, the juvenile may be dismissed from the program and referred to the juvenile court for further disposition.

Results

The Youth Aid Panel provides the means for trained, caring community citizens to be directly involved in the process of holding youth accountable for their improper delinquent acts. The Youth Aid Panel empowers the community to participate in the process of problem solving by its people.

There are two important goals of the Youth Aid Panel:

• To prevent youths from becoming more deeply involved in delinquent acts and poor choice making

• To make youths responsible for their actions through specific good services to the victim and/or the community

 

The Offender

During the development towards adulthood, many youth make poor life choices and some of those poor choices may result in police intervention. The Youth Aid Panel program affords the citizenry of our community the setting to speak with the youth and to convey their understanding, expectations, and caring. By this process, the youth realizes that concern for his/her behavior is shared by those beyond the juvenile court authority.