SARATOGA SPRINGS - Amanda Mosher was 17 when police caught her and five of her friends stealing jewelry from the Bon-Ton department store in the Wilton Mall.

Charged with petit larceny, the Corinth teen faced up to 90 days in jail and a blemished record that would have to be explained in any future college or job applications.

Instead, through the Prevention Council of Saratoga County's youth court program, she admitted to the crime and was sentenced by a jury of her peers to spend 20 hours volunteering at the South Glens Falls American Legion.

She also later had to serve on a youth court jury, take a "risks and rewards" class and tour the Saratoga County Jail.

Though less drastic than the punishment that could have been imposed through the traditional court process, Mosher, now 19, said this week that the moral of her story was vividly clear.

"It made me think what could happen again in the future, and it made me realize that I could really get in trouble for these things," said Mosher, who is now studying social work in college.

Officials with the Saratoga Springs-based Prevention Council fear success stories like Mosher's are about to become less common.

That's because two staffers who have helped coordinate the youth court program since its inception almost 13 years ago will be let go at the end of January unless supporters are able to find the $70,000 they say is needed to continue the effort next year.

State grants secured by former state Sen. Joe Bruno had long provided much of the money needed to support the staffers and pay for their travel, but the funding ceased after Bruno's retirement two years ago, and no new source of revenue has been found.

Judy Ekman, the Prevention Council's executive director, said this week that she is hoping a last-ditch fundraising effort will allow the program to continue next year while officials search for a more stable source of income.

Ekman said she hopes the legal community will step in, but that she will also make her case to local government leaders.

In doing so, she said she will emphasize the savings local governments are able to realize by diverting young offenders to youth court, where teenage volunteers assume the roles of jurors, prosecutors and judges and impose sentences that are as binding as those handed down in regular court.

The program, open to first-time, non-violent offenders 18 and younger, typically handles more than 100 cases a year - work that would otherwise fall to local judges, county prosecutors and probation officers.

"If we can save one kid a year from out-of-county placement, we have made up the entire budget of youth court," Ekman said.

More than the potential cost savings, though, Ekman said youths trained as court officers would lose a chance to become acclimated with the justice system, and offenders would lose an opportunity to atone without long-term consequences.

Participants - typically charged with crimes like underage alcohol possession, vandalism or trespassing - can have their records cleared after successfully finishing the program.

Sending the cases through regular court, Ekman said, would also prevent offenders from getting the kind of context they need to realize the weight of their actions and prevent falling back into criminal behavior.

"What they (youthful offenders) confront in youth court are peers who disapprove of what they're doing," she said.

"Suddenly, they realize that not all kids think it's cool to go around knocking down old ladies' mailboxes."

The Saratoga-based youth court program has relied more heavily on state funding than have similar programs in Warren and Washington counties, but organizers of those programs say they also fear their efforts may be diminished in the future because of budget woes.

The Hudson Falls-based Council for Prevention, which runs the youth court program in Warren County, will cope with a 30 percent cut in funding for its 11-year-old program next year because of losses in grant funding.

The declines have already led to the elimination of one part-time coordinator position, leaving the group with just one full-time staffer and one part-time staffer to run the program next year.

David Saffer, the Council for Prevention's executive director, said the program will likely be able to accommodate the 80-odd cases it typically sees every year, despite the cuts.

But he worries there will soon come a day that funding - a combination of state, county and outside grant money - may not be as forthcoming.

"Sustainability is a concern," Saffer said.

In Washington County, the Hudson Falls Central School District and the Fort Edward Union Free School District each fund school-based youth court programs through the Youth Bureau.

Each district handles roughly 30 cases a year, organizers said, and those efforts cost around $10,000 a year.

Mark Doody, superintendent at Hudson Falls, said it was too early in the budget process to tell whether the program would be continued, but cuts in state funding could put it at risk of elimination.

"We would like to continue the program, obviously, but ultimately, it's just one of those things that will have to be considered on the chopping block," he said.

Attempts to reach Fort Edward superintendent Jeff Ziegler were unsuccessful.