San Francisco Peer Court Referral Procedures

Step 1 - Contact us if you have questions about the referral
                Please contact us directly with questions about referrals or incidents!
                   Program Manager Nicole Brown - (858) 212-7220
                   Program Director Tony Litwak - (415) 264-2675

Step 2 - Review the incident for Peer Court eligibility
             a. Does it meet your agency's diversion requirements?
                    1. SFPD Diversion Checklist, and/or
                    2. SFUSD Student Handbook, District Guidelines
             b. Does it meet Peer Court's requirements?
                    1. Referral must be made as an alternative to suspension or arrest or both
                    2. Offender must admit responsibility for his or her actions
                         and take steps to "repair the harm" through Peer Court
                    3. Parents and youth must agree to participate in the program voluntarily

Step 3 - Explain the program to the Offender and their Parents as listed below!
             a. Peer Court is voluntary for youth and their families
             b. Peer Court requires them to share some personal information with the program
             c. Peer Court is an alternative to suspension or arrest or other sanction (tell them which ones)
             d. Peer Court is a peer-to-peer accountability program where they will be sentenced
                     by a jury of their peers for the harm they caused to victims and the community
             e. Peer Court will require 12-40 or more hours of their time, depending
                   on the level of the harm and impact of their crime or incident
             f. If they do not complete the Peer Court sentence, the original punishment
                     (arrest/suspension, etc) will be put in place. If they do complete, it will not.

Step 4 - Complete the Online Referral Form, including:
             a. contact information for respondent and family
             b. submit an incident report and other statements regarding this incident using the box provided
                   on the online referral form, or by email (nicole@peercourt.org) or FAX (415-865-2538)
             c. submit other behavior reports, or information for the peer court to consider
             d. names of victims and community members affected
             e. send RESPONDENT and PARENT online to complete their Respondent Intake Process
                      The referral will not be accepted until the respondent and family complete this step

Step 5 - Send Affected Victims and Community members to our online Impact Statements
                 This information is very important to the restorative justice process.
                 Using this form, people affected by this incident can explain how they were affected,
                 and can recommend ways to repair the harm that was caused as part of a fair resolution.

               The Impact Form should be used by direct victims, family members, teachers, offenders,
                         classmates, or others affected by this incident. To complete Impact Statements- CLICK HERE

Step 6 - Our Staff will contact you as soon as possible
              We will contact you probably the same day, but definitely within 48 hours of your referral. We will                  ask you to provide any necessary supplemental information, plus any info omitted from the form
                     (so please complete the form completely... thanks!!!)

After your completed referral Our staff will schedule a hearing date

The youth you referred will begin the Peer Court process immediately. We will contact their parents to schedule a hearing date, and they will begin a

"case preparation" process while Peer Court prepares to hear the case.

We will keep in contact with you, most likely by email

As the respondent completes the process, or fails to do so, we will keep you

informed of their progress. If they continue to misbehave or you feel they

should be considered for "failure to complete" the program, please contact us!