Redmond Youth Court: A new legal program to educate teens
Youth court will address traffic infractions given to 16 and 17 year olds. by Ashley Hiruko Redmond Reporter Thursday, April 11, 2019 1:42pm It was the Michael Connelly books his grandfather gave him that first created 17-year-old Bouke Spoelstra’s interest in law. Among those shared was “The Lincoln Lawyer.” It tells the story of a Los Angeles lawyer who practiced out of his Lincoln Town Car. But it was his active participation in a youth court in Bothell that deepened Spoelstra’s infatuation with law, he said. And ultimately these pieces led to Spoelstra pushing for Redmond to start its own youth court program. “I think a lot of the time, teenagers especially can perceive the judicial system in a way that it’s simply dishing out punishments that are sometimes negotiable but never avoidable, simply trying to hurt them,” Spoelstra said. “Obviously we know better…that there’s more to that story. And youth court is a way we can communicate that.” Bothell