Kids at the Red Hook Youth Court in New York actually take part in dealing with crime in their community.
The UK government is thinking of setting up a similar system in Britain. Here's the lowdown on the Red Hook Center.
What is the court trying to do?
It's trying to deal with minor crimes by people aged 10 to 16, and get young offenders to pay society back without bringing in the police.
What do the kids actually do?
After they've had 30 hours of training, kids are used as judges, lawyers and jurors. They don't decide if someone is guilty or not, just what punishment to give out after the facts of each case have been decided by adults.
What sort of punishments can they give out?
They can make kids do community service, write letters to say sorry, essays to understand what they've done and go to anger management workshops. Adults work with them to make sure the punishments are enforced.
Will it happen here?
At the moment, no-one knows. It is being looked into because it's thought kids respond better to pressure from people their own age than from adults
