Article Peer-Driven Justice: Development and Validation of the Teen Court Peer Influence Scale

examine its factor structure, reliability, and evidence of validity. Methods: The scale was disseminated to 202 participants in six teen courts in the state of Florida, and the authors conducted exploratory factor analyses. Content validity was established conceptually and evidence of concurrent validity, convergent construct validity, and discriminant construct validity were established statistically. Results: Factor analyses suggest that positive peer influence is operationalized by three constructs: positive cognitions/expectations, positive identity development, and modeling/imitation. The TCPIS has good internal consistency with a Cronbach’s alpha of.90. Conclusions: The TCPIS shows preliminary evidence of sound psychometric properties and may be used to inform teen court policy and practice. Keywords teen courts, positive peer influence, exploratory factor analysis, psychometrics Government agencies and officials are currently looking for innovative approaches to reduce the number of youth entering the juvenile justice system (Hannan, 2001). Nonviolent charges for youth increased 24 % from 2004 to 2005 (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2006). The total population of young people aged 13 to 18 is expected to reach 44 million by 2020, an 11 % increase, and crime committed by this cohort will likely experience a commensurate rise (Hannan, 2001). The costs to rehabilitate these youth are skyrocketing with juvenile justice spending spiking 43 % in some states since 1990 (Washington State Institute for Public Policy, 2002), magnifying the need for a program that diverts youth from the juvenile justice syste