The first graduate of the military court, which gives a second chance to teenagers

• Three teenagers ended up in Ingham County gun court Wednesday.
• Graduation occurs one year after the start of the program.
• Watch the video above for me.

Things are finally looking up for 18-year-old Andrea Ali. This happened after the teenager got into trouble a year ago.

“My charges involved a knife that was 0.5 times the legal size, but was found on school grounds in my car,” Ali said.

A troubling experience Ali was able to turn into a positive one when she became one of three teenagers to graduate from Ingham County’s gun court.

“The gun court is a special court that I developed for this court, and it’s made up of juveniles who are found to have illegal guns and they go through a very rigorous program,” said 30th District Court Judge Rosemary Aquilina.

Aquilina started the program about a year ago and currently has about 10 teenagers who have to complete tasks such as graduation, community service and conflict resolution courses. According to her, it can last up to two years.

All this is a joint effort, which, according to Aquilina, involves the prosecutor’s office, law enforcement agencies, non-profit organizations and even parents.

“Parents also have to follow my orders, which makes the child successful, because parents have to rethink how they can do their part to prevent trouble for their children,” Aquilina said.

At the end of the day, teenagers will get a second chance.

“At the beginning of the program they have 5 years of felony and at the end of it they just give 90 days of misdemeanor,” Aquilina said.