Youth courts provide communities with an opportunity to impose immediate consequences for first time youthful offenders, while providing a peer operated disposition mechanism that constructively allows young people to take responsibility, be held accountable, and make amends for violating the law. Dispositions hold youth accountable in part through peer pressure, which exerts a powerful influence over adolescent behavior. If peer pressure contributes to juvenile delinquency, then according to the experts, it can be redirected to promote law-abiding behavior. Additionally, while providing positive consequences for juvenile offenders such as community service, youth courts offer other young people in the community the opportunity to actively participate in the local decision-making process regarding how to address law-violating behavior and to gain hands-on knowledge of the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Currently in the United States, there are over 675 operating youth courts with more than 100 in development. To increase the reach of support to more communities, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has supported the development of these "National Youth Court Guidelines" to serve as a foundation for communities with existing or planned youth court programs. The guidelines are divided into 10 chapters: (1) "The Need for National Youth Court Guidelines"; (2) "Program Planning and Community Mobilization"; (3) "Program Staffing and Funding"; (4) "Legal Issues"; (5) "Identified Respondent Population and Referral Process"; (6) "Program Services and Sentencing Options"; (7) "Volunteer Recruitment"; (8) "Volunteer Training"; (9) "Youth Court Operations and Case Management"; and (10) "Program Evaluation." (Contains 37 references and additional resources.) (BT)