When Mercer County started its Community Court Program two years ago, no one was sure how well it would work.

Francis Fornelli, president judge of Mercer County Common Pleas Court, was familiar with the concept. When Mark Benedetto, chief probation officer in the county's juvenile probation office told Fornelli he wanted to start a program and described how he envisioned it running, Fornelli gave him the go-ahead.

The program, which clears the court dockets of minor cases involving juveniles and makes the offenders accountable to their communities, has heard more than 100 cases, and about 60 kids have completed CCP. Committees are made up of community residents.

Fornelli said it helps him by reducing the demand on the court, hearing the cases more promptly and allowing the community where the juvenile lives to help get the child turned around.

With only about five repeat offenders, CCP director Lorraine Rutter, a probation specialist with Mercer County Juvenile Probation, feels that it is successful.

Completing the program, however, is more than punishing a juvenile for an offense. It's largely about helping to redirect a child who is beginning to go astray.

"The sooner we get hold of a child who's acting out or starting to break away, the better his chances," Fornelli said.

"A lot has changed as far as juvenile justice," Rutter said. The trend in Pennsylvania has been toward restorative justice, she noted.

"We need to make sure we've done something to restore what's happened to the victim and make sure (the offender) has learned something," she said.

Kids are less likely to commit a crime against someone they know, Rutter said, so CCP tries to bring the community into the process so the kids know who they live around.

CCP supervision usually lasts six months. Made up of six committees in the county, CCP has a lot of leeway in handling cases. They treat each child as an individual. Mike Cooney serves on Grove City's CCP committee.

"One of the best aspects is it allows us to get to the root of many of the problems, whereas the magistrate and the common pleas court don't always have the time," Cooney said. "When they first come before us, we interview them intensely, not just about the crime, but what caused their problem."

The problems vary -- sometimes it's peer pressure or problems at home. Cooney said one of the bigger problems is difficulty in adjusting from a structured 6th grade to a less structured middle school atmosphere.

Because the problems vary, the solutions vary as well. They have included counseling (individual or family), helping children learn to socialize, and even sending them to conservation camp. Some more standard requirements are community service, homework logs and drug testing.

"It depends on what they've done, the crime, the circumstances surrounding who they are and what's going on in their lives. It's individual," Rutter said.

A last resort is Smart Camp, which Cooney describes as a two-day, in-your-face boot camp in Sharpsville.

Parents are required to work with the program. "Parents are always involved, but it's never a standard thing. It's as much as doing a chore chart to being involved in making sure the homework log is done," Rutter said.

"We try to help them become better parents, help them stay on top of what their kid is doing," she said.

Rutter finds that many parents are grateful for the support, because it helps them put their foot down. The kids are not only answering to their parents, but also to the committee.

She also finds that many parents have a bad attitude toward CCP, and that is detrimental to their children. "The biggest thing I've noticed with a kid being successful or not is their parents' attitude toward the program."

Rutter has seen evidence that successful completion can really make a difference for a kid.

"It's meant to be a wake-up call. One girl had a serious charge and some major issues. She is now doing well. She's on the honor roll, in the drama club, and I see her working in a store that I visit often," Rutter said. "She was really struggling with her own personal identity. She got into good counseling and held to her strong terms and conditions, and she's doing really well. She's getting scholarships and planning to attend college."

The girl probably wouldn't be able to get student loans or become a teacher with a criminal record, but with CCP completion, the charges do not appear on the child's record.

Another boy who completed CCP finished high school and is in a band that recently traveled to Venezuela to perform.

CCP teaches life-long values such as honesty and accountability. Rutter said owning up to what they've done is a really big step in maturity. "They realize that no matter what, honesty is the best option. It's like the saying, 'The truth will set you free.' "

Rutter is grateful to the people who serve with community court, many of whom are high school students.

"I have people on the committee who have been out of high school for 30 years -- they can forget how kids do things," Rutter said. "They bring a nice perspective."

"It's better to hear from your peers, not just some judge in Mercer with gray hair who they feel is out of touch with what's going on," Fornelli said.

Rutter said the schools and the community have been very supportive of CCP.

"A nice partnership has developed between schools and the committees, and they're working together to achieve goals," she said.

The Grove City Foundation, she noted, donated money to the town's CCP committee to help send kids to participate in different programs.

Rutter said she's always looking for people to serve on the committees, which meet two evenings per month. It's not always easy, she said, because the kids -- and their parents -- aren't necessarily happy to be there. The payoff comes in knowing they are helping kids, however.

She sees them at the program's completion shaking the hands of committee members and thanking them.

"Kids sometimes make really dumb decisions. We want to really give them a chance to get it together. If only half do well, that's a big deal. We now have things we can do to catch them early," Rutter said.