Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-705

This is the official text of Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-705, part of Tennessee’s Code Ann — part of the compiled statutory law of Tennessee, published by the state as "Code Ann." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Legislative intent - Location of teen court proceedings - Immunity of participants - Confidentiality

Official statutory text

(a) It is the legislative intent that teen court proceedings shall be, to the extent possible, conducted by teens with limited adult participation. The Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure shall not apply. The juvenile court judge shall have the authority to appoint teens to serve as prosecuting and defense attorneys. It is further the legislative intent that the juvenile court shall have the flexibility to establish procedures, not inconsistent with this part, to assure fairness and equity and to protect the rights of all parties. (b) Every juvenile court judge, whether or not such judge establishes a teen court, may hold juvenile court proceedings at a public high school or middle school in the county of the court's jurisdiction for at least one (1) day per year. Such court proceeding shall be publicized in cooperation with the local school authorities in a manner to encourage teen observation and, where appropriate, participation. (c) Each participant in teen court proceedings has the same immunity provided by law for judicial proceedings. (d) All records used in, or otherwise related to, teen court proceedings shall be confidential to the full extent provided by current law, except as necessary to permit functioning of the teen court. Nothing contained in this section shall, in any manner, alter the confidentiality of records or proceedings under current juvenile court law. Acts 2000, ch. 792, § 1; imp. am. Acts 2000, ch. 947, § 6; Acts 2001, ch. 341, § 9.
(a) It is the legislative intent that teen court proceedings shall be, to the extent possible, conducted by teens with limited adult participation. The Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure shall not apply. The juvenile court judge shall have the authority to appoint teens to serve as prosecuting and defense attorneys. It is further the legislative intent that the juvenile court shall have the flexibility to establish procedures, not inconsistent with this part, to assure fairness and equity and to protect the rights of all parties.
(b) Every juvenile court judge, whether or not such judge establishes a teen court, may hold juvenile court proceedings at a public high school or middle school in the county of the court's jurisdiction for at least one (1) day per year. Such court proceeding shall be publicized in cooperation with the local school authorities in a manner to encourage teen observation and, where appropriate, participation.
(c) Each participant in teen court proceedings has the same immunity provided by law for judicial proceedings.
(d) All records used in, or otherwise related to, teen court proceedings shall be confidential to the full extent provided by current law, except as necessary to permit functioning of the teen court. Nothing contained in this section shall, in any manner, alter the confidentiality of records or proceedings under current juvenile court law.
Acts 2000, ch. 792, § 1; imp. am. Acts 2000, ch. 947, § 6; Acts 2001, ch. 341, § 9.

Status: in_force

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.