Juvenile Justice

A concern over the incarceration of juvenile offenders was a major impetus in the implementation of what came to be known as restorative justice in the Pacific.

. Police diversion of young offenders and Indigenous over-representation.: This study aimed to contribute to the emerging literature examining disparity in the use of police diversion and whether the impact of police diversion on re-contact varies based on Indigenous status. The study addressed three research questions: • What proportion of Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people had contact with the juvenile justice system and what was the extent of this contact? • What processes were used to respond to offending by Indigenous and non- Indigenous young people and was there disparity based on Indigenous status? • What impact did police diversion have on re-contact with the juvenile justice system for Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people? (excerpt)
. Restorative Justice Principles in Youth Settings – final report.: This report contains eight chapters which detail the implementation of restorative justice principles in the ACT educational and justice settings. The report makes a number of recommendations which the Committee considers will help sustain restorative approaches into the future. (excerpt)
. The rights of the young person in the New Zealand youth justice family group conference.: The youth justice family group conference (FGC) is a statutory decision making process whereby the young person, their family/whanau, state officials and the victim of the offence come together to decide on a response to offending by that young person. The FGC is an integral part of the youth justice system, involving thousands of young people and their families each year. There is a considerable amount of literature available on the youth justice FGC, most notably in regard to the purported restorative justice nature of the process. However, for a legal process which involves so many young people on a daily basis, there is little information available on the due process rights of young people in the FGC. This thesis seeks to remedy this gap in the research knowledge. Firstly, this thesis establishes the theoretical framework for the rights of the young person in the youth justice system. The historical context and theoretical justification for these rights is considered, and the benchmarks for rights coming from international and national human rights standards are identified. A key theoretical issue is the application of rights to the FGC. It is argued that although the FGC differs in format from the adversarial criminal process, it remains a state process involved in resolving a breach of the criminal law, and thus the young person's rights should be safeguarded. Secondly, this thesis evaluates legislation, policy and practice relating to the rights of the young person in the FGC. Three key areas of rights are considered: legal assistance, how the offence is proved, and outcomes of the FGC. Reference is made to practice examples derived from observation of the FGC in two centres in New Zealand. Finally, as the FGC is certain to remain an integral part of the youth justice system, recommendations are made as to how legislation and practice could be improved to better safeguard the rights of young people in this process. (author's abstract)
. Youth Justice in New Zealand: Restorative Justice in Practice?: The Children, YoungPersons, and TheirFamilies Act 1989 put in place newobjects, principles, and procedures for youth justice in New Zealand. Both the philosophy underpinning this system and the use of family group conferences exemplify a restorative justice approach that has now been adopted in many other countries. This article describes these changes and presents some of the results of recently published research that examines the extent to which young offenders have been diverted from courts and custody, held accountable for their actions, and had their wellbeing enhanced. It suggests that the New Zealand youth justice system has achieved many but not all of its goals, and that there are still aspects where improvement is possible. (author's abstract)
Alder, Christine and Wundersitz, Joy. Family Conferencing and Juvenile Justice: The Way Forward or Misplaced Optimism?: An anthology of 11 papers assesses the use and dimensions of family group conferencing (FGC) in Australia and New Zealand. FGCs involves a meeting between the offender and his/her extended family, the victim and his/her supporters, and other relevant parties to discuss the offense and to negotiate appropriate responses. The most innovative and potentially positive aspects of family group conferencing are the involvement of the victim and the young offender's family in decision making. The papers address whether punishment without stigmatization is possible, whether reoffending can be prevented, and if family conferencing represents the best alternative.
Alder, Christine and Wundersitz, Joy. New Directions in Juvenile Justice Reform in Australia: Reviews the adaptations of the New Zealand juvenile justice reforms to Australia, especially the use of family group conferences. After reviewing the history of juvenile justice reforms in Australia, the authors discuss the features of family group conferences, the differences between the New Zealand and Australian versions, and the implications for juvenile justice practice
Bates, Brian. A diverse approach to juvenile offending in the Northern Territory: Brian Bates, Commissioner of Police in the Northern Territory, presents a Juvenile Pre-Court Diversion Scheme being used in that territory as an alternative approach to juvenile offending. Specifically, it is an alternative to an adversarial system in response to juvenile offending. This alternative scheme provides a range of interventions to divert juveniles from the criminal justice system. The paper sketches the background to this approach, describes each of the diversionary interventions, and reports on results from the first nine months of the program’s operations.
Becroft, Andrew. Restorative Justice in the Youth Court: A Square Peg in a Round Hole?: New Zealand is known as a leader in the application of restorative justice to youth offending, with over 80% of juvenile offenses being handled through police diversion. The remaining 16-20% results in formal charges in the youth court. This article provides excerpts of a paper that examines the restorative potential of the New Zealand youth court. The full paper, written by Judge Andrew Becroft, Principal Youth Court Judge, New Zealand Youth Court, is attached.
Becroft, Andrew. Youth Justice in New Zealand: Future Challenges: The starting point is to emphasise that the fundamental structure and principles of the New Zealand youth justice system are sound (and have been for 15 years). The outcomes since the passage of the legislation suggest that the system is working. An increase in diversion and decrease in cases coming to the Youth Court, together with decreases in incarceration and institutionalisation, are achievements of which all those working in the New Zealand youth justice sector may justly be proud. (excerpt)
Bolitho, Jane. Creating space for young people, dialogue and decision making : youth justice conferencing in New South Wales Australia.: This study examines the process of Youth Justice Conferencing in New South Wales within the context of the theory and aims of the restorative justice movement. Analysis of relevant literature and theory suggests that restorative justice is a broad and encompassing movement that entails a decision making process where victims, communities and offenders come together in a joint response to an offence. Although this breadth has allowed and encouraged a proliferation of programs that respond to particular needs and particular demands of culture and social context, the consequence is that both understandings and practices of restorative justices are variable. When theoretical understandings are so varied there will necessarily be a lack of commonality in the way principles are articulated. If practice is not linked directly to principled theory it is inevitable that processes will be vulnerable at all levels to the interaction between context, situations and participant characteristics that may easily deflect the focus from the true purpose of restorative justice. This thesis attempts to clarify the restorative principles relevant to the NSW program with reference to Braithwaite and Pettit’s republican theory (1990) and their notion of dominion. In turn these principles are used to identify five practical elements to be used as a framework to guide youth conferences. Such a framework highlights potential areas for improvement in conference preparation and practice. A case study approach was used to collect data and involved the observation of eighty five Youth Justice Conferences in three New South Wales conferencing regions. As well, one hundred and fifty two currently practising Youth Justice Conferencing practitioners (Police, Conveners, Managers) in New South Wales completed a mail out questionnaire. Findings from the study suggest that conference processes are influenced by the presence or absence of five particular elements: the attendance of victims, the attendance of communities, the attendance of offender support, reparation to victims, communities and offenders and the experience of non-domination during the conference space. However, findings also suggest that ‘situational’ factors may mediate these key elements to enhance or compromise the overall process. This thesis suggests that many of the issues arising in NSW conferences result from the failure to articulate the links between restorative justice theory and practice. While in NSW such links may intentionally have been unarticulated in order to encourage a freedom within the process, in reality the lack of clarification has led to a freedom in discretion that sometimes diminishes the chance of success. Therefore it proposes the need for a more articulated translation of theory into principles that will in turn frame practice. In this way the thesis uses the normative theory proposed by Braithwaite and Pettit (1990) to provide an explanatory and ideal framework for best practice in NSW Youth Justice Conferencing. (author's abstract)
Boshier, Peter. How Family Group Conferencing Influences Decision-Making in New Zealand Courts.: PendingFamily Group Conferences (FGCs) were created by the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989. This Act deals with State intervention into childcare and aims to protect children from abuse and neglect through its care and protection provisions. The Act also established the Youth Court, which deals with young offenders. FGCs are the backbone of both the care and protection and youth justice processes. (excerpt)
Brown, M. J. A. Juvenile Justice in New Zealand: This paper describes New Zealand's Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act of 1989. The terms used in the Youth Justice portion of the legislation are defined, the jurisdiction of the Youth Court and objectives of the legislation are discussed, and the use of family group conferences are explained. Finally, the perceived benefits of this form of diversion are listed.
Carroll, M. Implementation Issues: Considering the Conferencing Options for Victoria: The potential advantages and dangers of family group conferences are discussed in the context of the existing juvenile justice system in Victoria under the Children and Young Persons Act 1989. These approaches have led to fewer young people admitted by courts to supervised programs making the need for more diversion approaches questionable. Concerns about police-based family group conferences include police neutrality, police role as prosecutor and judge, and program costs. Concerns about the New Zealand model include professional involvement in decision making, low victim satisfaction, net-widening, and costs of program implementation.
Chan, Janet B.L.. Reshaping Juvenile Justice. The NSW Young Offenders Act 1997: Reshaping Juvenile Justice examines reforms in New South Wales under the Young Offenders Act 1997. The Act institutionalizes a fresh approach to juvenile justice – one that regulates police discretion at the gate-keeping level, emphasizes diversion as a principle, introduces restorative conferencing as an intermediate intervention, and relegates the use of courts to the last resort. (publisher’s abstract)
Cunneen, Chris and White, Rob. Australia: Control, Containment or Empowerment?: This chapter presents a critical analysis of recent juvenile justice reforms in Australia. The main argument is that while the Australian Government espouses the rhetoric of restorative justice practices, reforms instituted in recent years have further marginalized disadvantaged youth. The authors begin by reviewing recent legislative changes that have enhanced the power of police to control young people in public spaces. These changes have expanded the ability of police to conduct casual “name-checks,” searches for prohibited implements, and to take fingerprints and bodily samples of alleged young offenders. This “zero tolerance” policing have been coupled with other control measures designed to contain young people in public spaces, such as formal youth curfews and restrictive approaches to bail. These legislative changes have accompanied an increased emphasis on the prediction and management of risk for young people in Australia, which has resulted in the expanded use of diversionary sanctions. The problem with such an approach, however, is that in practice this risk management has focused mainly on disadvantaged youth who do not fit the typical middle-class mold. The authors discuss the overrepresentation of Aboriginal youth in the juvenile justice system before turning to an examination of the tensions created between the rhetoric of restorative justice practices and the “net-widening” effect that has occurred as a result of risk management practices that criminalize a greater array of activities. While on the one hand, the Australian Government has expanded the use of so-called restorative sanctioning practices, the focus on risk management has changed the nature of juvenile incarceration. Even as the rate of juvenile incarceration has decreased across the country, it has become increasingly easier to transfer young offenders to adult courts and to hold young offenders in detention facilities administered by the adult correctional system. In closing the authors note that in Australia, the term “juvenile offender” is a code word for “poor and marginalized.” (Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov).
Cunningham, Teresa. Pre-court diversion in the Northern Territory: impact on juvenile reoffending.: A juvenile pre-court diversion scheme was introduced in the Northern Territory in 2000. Administered by police, it uses warnings and conferences to divert selected juveniles from the court process. This paper reports on an analysis of Northern Territory police records on 3,597 apprehended juveniles over a 5 year period. Findings showed that the great majority of juveniles (76%) did not reoffend within the first year after their initial diversion or court appearance. However, there were significant differences between juveniles who attended court and those who were diverted, both in terms of risk of reoffending and time to reoffending. Those who were diverted reoffended less than those who attended court and those who went to court reoffended more quickly. Property offenders who attended court were 30 percent more at risk of reoffending than violent offenders. Further work is required to see if the different effects for court versus diversion remain if prior offending history is taken into account. The significant differences in offending related to age, gender, Indigenous status and location confirm the need for specific responses to particular groups of juveniles. (author's abstract)
Daly, Kathleen and Bouhours, Brigitte and Curtis-Fawley, Sarah and Daly, Kathleen. Sexual Offence cases finalised in court, by conference, and by formal caution in South Australian for young offenders, 1995-2001, Final Report.: What drives this research is an interest in the politics of justice and innovation in justice practices. Also motivating this work is a concern with the limits of law and legal reform to effectively address certain kinds of interpersonal crime, especially sexual assault. There are only two jurisdictions in the world, South Australia and New Zealand, which routinely use conferencing to process youth accused of sexual assault. In all other jurisdictions, sexual assault has deliberately been placed off the restorative justice agenda. Sexual violence is widely understood to be ‘too sensitive’ or ‘too risky’ to be handled by conference or to be diverted from court prosecution. (excerpt)
Daly, Kathleen and Curtis-Fawley, Sarah. Restorative Justice for Victims of Sexual Assault: This article analyzes the use of restorative justice (RJ)practices in cases of juvenile sexual assault through the use of two case studies from South Australia. Following the analysis, the authors conclude that the empowering process of RJ for victims of sexual assault may be one way of “redefining the realities” of these crimes. The two cases of sexual assault involved youthful male offenders and youthful female victims and both were finalized by a family conference in South Australia. The first case involved a confident victim who was described as knowing what she wanted from the family conference process. Although she had a positive experience, the victim had two main criticisms of the process. First, she believed the process was procedurally unfair in that she had no influence over what should be included in the agreement. Second, the victim believed the agreement was too lenient on the offender. In the second case study, which involved intrafamilial sexual intercourse, family conflict clouded the conference and the victim reported feeling intimidated by the offender during the process. Each case is followed by a discussion of the problems and benefits of using RJ practices in sexual assault cases in light of the experiences of the victims. One of the main problems cited with the use of RJ for sexual assault cases was the power imbalances that were evident between victims and offenders as well as between victims and offender advocates and youth court staff. Benefits to utilizing an RJ approach included victim empowerment through telling their stories and the requirement that offenders take responsibility for the offense. The case studies presented here were drawn from an in-depth study of 14 sexual and family violence cases finalized by family conference during the last part of 2005 in South Australia. An archival analysis was also performed on 387 juvenile sexual offenses finalized between 1995 and 2001 by formal caution, conference, or in Youth Court.
Fitzgerald, Jacqueline and Vignaendra, Sumitra. Reoffending Among Young People Cautioned by Police or Who Participated in Youth Justice Conference.: This study investigated the rate of reoffending among young people who were cautioned by New South Wales (NSW) Police or who participated in a youth justice conference for the first time in 1999. Results of this study showed that continued contact with the criminal justice system also occurred among those participating in diversionary alternatives to court; however, this contact seemed less common. This is particularly true for offenders who are older at their first caution or conference, female offenders, and non-Indigenous offenders. Although the study showed a clear difference in the rate of appearance in court for those given a caution versus a conference, this difference should not be taken as an indication of the relative effectiveness of cautions versus conferences in reducing juvenile reoffending. Since 1998, a significant proportion of young offenders in New South Wales (NSW) have been dealt with by warning caution or youth justice conference under the Young Offenders Act of 1997 rather than proceeding through the traditional court system. Utilizing two cohorts of young people, one of which was cautioned by NSW Police in 1999 and the other completing a youth justice conference, this study describes the likelihood and frequency of reoffending, the time it takes to reoffend, and the likelihood of receiving a penalty of imprisonment all within 5 years of the caution or conference. (Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.
Goddard, Michael. The Age Of Steam: Constructed Identity and Recalcitrant Youth in a Papua New Guinea Village: Michael Goddard describes the Village Court in Pari Village Port Moresby, Papua New Guine. The institution of the village court, where traditional leaders use informal processes to respond to conflicts and minor crimes, has been described as restorative. Goddard challenges this view by looking at the meanings behind certain practices in the village court at Pari. He states that in this analysis of the Pari Village Court, "I contextualise a judicial process which might be glossed as restorative in issues of comunal identity, the interpretation of tradition and the negotiation of modern sociality. I hope to show here that restorative justice cannot be analytically abstracted from its immediate social context, and that within that context it can founder on the contestability of the cultural meaning to which it is putatively adapted.

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Navigation Lecture Hall Introduction to Restorative Justice Restorative Justice around the World Africa Asia Europe Latin America Middle East North America and the Caribbean Pacific Indigenous Juvenile Justice Court Evaluation School Articles from RJ Online All Documents Educational Opportunities Restorative Justice Theory Making Amends Restorative Justice Course Syllabi Book Reviews Video Reviews Real People, Real Stories Practice Manuals Evaluation Research Evaluation Tools Role Plays Using Restorative Practices	Info Juvenile Justice A concern over the incarceration of juvenile offenders was a major impetus in the implementation of what came to be known as restorative justice in the Pacific. . Police diversion of young offenders and Indigenous over-representation. This study aimed to contribute to the emerging literature examining disparity in the use of police diversion and whether the impact of police diversion on re-contact varies based on Indigenous status. The study addressed three research questions: • What proportion of Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people had contact with the juvenile justice system and what was the extent of this contact? • What processes were used to respond to offending by Indigenous and non- Indigenous young people and was there disparity based on Indigenous status? • What impact did police diversion have on re-contact with the juvenile justice system for Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people? (excerpt) . Restorative Justice Principles in Youth Settings – final report. This report contains eight chapters which detail the implementation of restorative justice principles in the ACT educational and justice settings. The report makes a number of recommendations which the Committee considers will help sustain restorative approaches into the future. (excerpt) . The rights of the young person in the New Zealand youth justice family group conference. The youth justice family group conference (FGC) is a statutory decision making process whereby the young person, their family/whanau, state officials and the victim of the offence come together to decide on a response to offending by that young person. The FGC is an integral part of the youth justice system, involving thousands of young people and their families each year. There is a considerable amount of literature available on the youth justice FGC, most notably in regard to the purported restorative justice nature of the process. However, for a legal process which involves so many young people on a daily basis, there is little information available on the due process rights of young people in the FGC. This thesis seeks to remedy this gap in the research knowledge. Firstly, this thesis establishes the theoretical framework for the rights of the young person in the youth justice system. The historical context and theoretical justification for these rights is considered, and the benchmarks for rights coming from international and national human rights standards are identified. A key theoretical issue is the application of rights to the FGC. It is argued that although the FGC differs in format from the adversarial criminal process, it remains a state process involved in resolving a breach of the criminal law, and thus the young person's rights should be safeguarded. Secondly, this thesis evaluates legislation, policy and practice relating to the rights of the young person in the FGC. Three key areas of rights are considered: legal assistance, how the offence is proved, and outcomes of the FGC. Reference is made to practice examples derived from observation of the FGC in two centres in New Zealand. Finally, as the FGC is certain to remain an integral part of the youth justice system, recommendations are made as to how legislation and practice could be improved to better safeguard the rights of young people in this process. (author's abstract) . Youth Justice in New Zealand: Restorative Justice in Practice? The Children, YoungPersons, and TheirFamilies Act 1989 put in place newobjects, principles, and procedures for youth justice in New Zealand. Both the philosophy underpinning this system and the use of family group conferences exemplify a restorative justice approach that has now been adopted in many other countries. This article describes these changes and presents some of the results of recently published research that examines the extent to which young offenders have been diverted from courts and custody, held accountable for their actions, and had their wellbeing enhanced. It suggests that the New Zealand youth justice system has achieved many but not all of its goals, and that there are still aspects where improvement is possible. (author's abstract) Alder, Christine and Wundersitz, Joy. Family Conferencing and Juvenile Justice: The Way Forward or Misplaced Optimism? An anthology of 11 papers assesses the use and dimensions of family group conferencing (FGC) in Australia and New Zealand. FGCs involves a meeting between the offender and his/her extended family, the victim and his/her supporters, and other relevant parties to discuss the offense and to negotiate appropriate responses. The most innovative and potentially positive aspects of family group conferencing are the involvement of the victim and the young offender's family in decision making. The papers address whether punishment without stigmatization is possible, whether reoffending can be prevented, and if family conferencing represents the best alternative. Alder, Christine and Wundersitz, Joy. New Directions in Juvenile Justice Reform in Australia Reviews the adaptations of the New Zealand juvenile justice reforms to Australia, especially the use of family group conferences. After reviewing the history of juvenile justice reforms in Australia, the authors discuss the features of family group conferences, the differences between the New Zealand and Australian versions, and the implications for juvenile justice practice Bates, Brian. A diverse approach to juvenile offending in the Northern Territory Brian Bates, Commissioner of Police in the Northern Territory, presents a Juvenile Pre-Court Diversion Scheme being used in that territory as an alternative approach to juvenile offending. Specifically, it is an alternative to an adversarial system in response to juvenile offending. This alternative scheme provides a range of interventions to divert juveniles from the criminal justice system. The paper sketches the background to this approach, describes each of the diversionary interventions, and reports on results from the first nine months of the program’s operations. Becroft, Andrew. Restorative Justice in the Youth Court: A Square Peg in a Round Hole? New Zealand is known as a leader in the application of restorative justice to youth offending, with over 80% of juvenile offenses being handled through police diversion. The remaining 16-20% results in formal charges in the youth court. This article provides excerpts of a paper that examines the restorative potential of the New Zealand youth court. The full paper, written by Judge Andrew Becroft, Principal Youth Court Judge, New Zealand Youth Court, is attached. Becroft, Andrew. Youth Justice in New Zealand: Future Challenges The starting point is to emphasise that the fundamental structure and principles of the New Zealand youth justice system are sound (and have been for 15 years). The outcomes since the passage of the legislation suggest that the system is working. An increase in diversion and decrease in cases coming to the Youth Court, together with decreases in incarceration and institutionalisation, are achievements of which all those working in the New Zealand youth justice sector may justly be proud. (excerpt) Bolitho, Jane. Creating space for young people, dialogue and decision making : youth justice conferencing in New South Wales Australia. This study examines the process of Youth Justice Conferencing in New South Wales within the context of the theory and aims of the restorative justice movement. Analysis of relevant literature and theory suggests that restorative justice is a broad and encompassing movement that entails a decision making process where victims, communities and offenders come together in a joint response to an offence. Although this breadth has allowed and encouraged a proliferation of programs that respond to particular needs and particular demands of culture and social context, the consequence is that both understandings and practices of restorative justices are variable. When theoretical understandings are so varied there will necessarily be a lack of commonality in the way principles are articulated. If practice is not linked directly to principled theory it is inevitable that processes will be vulnerable at all levels to the interaction between context, situations and participant characteristics that may easily deflect the focus from the true purpose of restorative justice. This thesis attempts to clarify the restorative principles relevant to the NSW program with reference to Braithwaite and Pettit’s republican theory (1990) and their notion of dominion. In turn these principles are used to identify five practical elements to be used as a framework to guide youth conferences. Such a framework highlights potential areas for improvement in conference preparation and practice. A case study approach was used to collect data and involved the observation of eighty five Youth Justice Conferences in three New South Wales conferencing regions. As well, one hundred and fifty two currently practising Youth Justice Conferencing practitioners (Police, Conveners, Managers) in New South Wales completed a mail out questionnaire. Findings from the study suggest that conference processes are influenced by the presence or absence of five particular elements: the attendance of victims, the attendance of communities, the attendance of offender support, reparation to victims, communities and offenders and the experience of non-domination during the conference space. However, findings also suggest that ‘situational’ factors may mediate these key elements to enhance or compromise the overall process. This thesis suggests that many of the issues arising in NSW conferences result from the failure to articulate the links between restorative justice theory and practice. While in NSW such links may intentionally have been unarticulated in order to encourage a freedom within the process, in reality the lack of clarification has led to a freedom in discretion that sometimes diminishes the chance of success. Therefore it proposes the need for a more articulated translation of theory into principles that will in turn frame practice. In this way the thesis uses the normative theory proposed by Braithwaite and Pettit (1990) to provide an explanatory and ideal framework for best practice in NSW Youth Justice Conferencing. (author's abstract) Boshier, Peter. How Family Group Conferencing Influences Decision-Making in New Zealand Courts. PendingFamily Group Conferences (FGCs) were created by the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989. This Act deals with State intervention into childcare and aims to protect children from abuse and neglect through its care and protection provisions. The Act also established the Youth Court, which deals with young offenders. FGCs are the backbone of both the care and protection and youth justice processes. (excerpt) Brown, M. J. A. Juvenile Justice in New Zealand This paper describes New Zealand's Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act of 1989. The terms used in the Youth Justice portion of the legislation are defined, the jurisdiction of the Youth Court and objectives of the legislation are discussed, and the use of family group conferences are explained. Finally, the perceived benefits of this form of diversion are listed. Carroll, M. Implementation Issues: Considering the Conferencing Options for Victoria The potential advantages and dangers of family group conferences are discussed in the context of the existing juvenile justice system in Victoria under the Children and Young Persons Act 1989. These approaches have led to fewer young people admitted by courts to supervised programs making the need for more diversion approaches questionable. Concerns about police-based family group conferences include police neutrality, police role as prosecutor and judge, and program costs. Concerns about the New Zealand model include professional involvement in decision making, low victim satisfaction, net-widening, and costs of program implementation. Chan, Janet B.L.. Reshaping Juvenile Justice. The NSW Young Offenders Act 1997 Reshaping Juvenile Justice examines reforms in New South Wales under the Young Offenders Act 1997. The Act institutionalizes a fresh approach to juvenile justice – one that regulates police discretion at the gate-keeping level, emphasizes diversion as a principle, introduces restorative conferencing as an intermediate intervention, and relegates the use of courts to the last resort. (publisher’s abstract) Cunneen, Chris and White, Rob. Australia: Control, Containment or Empowerment? This chapter presents a critical analysis of recent juvenile justice reforms in Australia. The main argument is that while the Australian Government espouses the rhetoric of restorative justice practices, reforms instituted in recent years have further marginalized disadvantaged youth. The authors begin by reviewing recent legislative changes that have enhanced the power of police to control young people in public spaces. These changes have expanded the ability of police to conduct casual “name-checks,” searches for prohibited implements, and to take fingerprints and bodily samples of alleged young offenders. This “zero tolerance” policing have been coupled with other control measures designed to contain young people in public spaces, such as formal youth curfews and restrictive approaches to bail. These legislative changes have accompanied an increased emphasis on the prediction and management of risk for young people in Australia, which has resulted in the expanded use of diversionary sanctions. The problem with such an approach, however, is that in practice this risk management has focused mainly on disadvantaged youth who do not fit the typical middle-class mold. The authors discuss the overrepresentation of Aboriginal youth in the juvenile justice system before turning to an examination of the tensions created between the rhetoric of restorative justice practices and the “net-widening” effect that has occurred as a result of risk management practices that criminalize a greater array of activities. While on the one hand, the Australian Government has expanded the use of so-called restorative sanctioning practices, the focus on risk management has changed the nature of juvenile incarceration. Even as the rate of juvenile incarceration has decreased across the country, it has become increasingly easier to transfer young offenders to adult courts and to hold young offenders in detention facilities administered by the adult correctional system. In closing the authors note that in Australia, the term “juvenile offender” is a code word for “poor and marginalized.” (Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov). Cunningham, Teresa. Pre-court diversion in the Northern Territory: impact on juvenile reoffending. A juvenile pre-court diversion scheme was introduced in the Northern Territory in 2000. Administered by police, it uses warnings and conferences to divert selected juveniles from the court process. This paper reports on an analysis of Northern Territory police records on 3,597 apprehended juveniles over a 5 year period. Findings showed that the great majority of juveniles (76%) did not reoffend within the first year after their initial diversion or court appearance. However, there were significant differences between juveniles who attended court and those who were diverted, both in terms of risk of reoffending and time to reoffending. Those who were diverted reoffended less than those who attended court and those who went to court reoffended more quickly. Property offenders who attended court were 30 percent more at risk of reoffending than violent offenders. Further work is required to see if the different effects for court versus diversion remain if prior offending history is taken into account. The significant differences in offending related to age, gender, Indigenous status and location confirm the need for specific responses to particular groups of juveniles. (author's abstract) Daly, Kathleen and Bouhours, Brigitte and Curtis-Fawley, Sarah and Daly, Kathleen. Sexual Offence cases finalised in court, by conference, and by formal caution in South Australian for young offenders, 1995-2001, Final Report. What drives this research is an interest in the politics of justice and innovation in justice practices. Also motivating this work is a concern with the limits of law and legal reform to effectively address certain kinds of interpersonal crime, especially sexual assault. There are only two jurisdictions in the world, South Australia and New Zealand, which routinely use conferencing to process youth accused of sexual assault. In all other jurisdictions, sexual assault has deliberately been placed off the restorative justice agenda. Sexual violence is widely understood to be ‘too sensitive’ or ‘too risky’ to be handled by conference or to be diverted from court prosecution. (excerpt) Daly, Kathleen and Curtis-Fawley, Sarah. Restorative Justice for Victims of Sexual Assault This article analyzes the use of restorative justice (RJ)practices in cases of juvenile sexual assault through the use of two case studies from South Australia. Following the analysis, the authors conclude that the empowering process of RJ for victims of sexual assault may be one way of “redefining the realities” of these crimes. The two cases of sexual assault involved youthful male offenders and youthful female victims and both were finalized by a family conference in South Australia. The first case involved a confident victim who was described as knowing what she wanted from the family conference process. Although she had a positive experience, the victim had two main criticisms of the process. First, she believed the process was procedurally unfair in that she had no influence over what should be included in the agreement. Second, the victim believed the agreement was too lenient on the offender. In the second case study, which involved intrafamilial sexual intercourse, family conflict clouded the conference and the victim reported feeling intimidated by the offender during the process. Each case is followed by a discussion of the problems and benefits of using RJ practices in sexual assault cases in light of the experiences of the victims. One of the main problems cited with the use of RJ for sexual assault cases was the power imbalances that were evident between victims and offenders as well as between victims and offender advocates and youth court staff. Benefits to utilizing an RJ approach included victim empowerment through telling their stories and the requirement that offenders take responsibility for the offense. The case studies presented here were drawn from an in-depth study of 14 sexual and family violence cases finalized by family conference during the last part of 2005 in South Australia. An archival analysis was also performed on 387 juvenile sexual offenses finalized between 1995 and 2001 by formal caution, conference, or in Youth Court. Fitzgerald, Jacqueline and Vignaendra, Sumitra. Reoffending Among Young People Cautioned by Police or Who Participated in Youth Justice Conference. This study investigated the rate of reoffending among young people who were cautioned by New South Wales (NSW) Police or who participated in a youth justice conference for the first time in 1999. Results of this study showed that continued contact with the criminal justice system also occurred among those participating in diversionary alternatives to court; however, this contact seemed less common. This is particularly true for offenders who are older at their first caution or conference, female offenders, and non-Indigenous offenders. Although the study showed a clear difference in the rate of appearance in court for those given a caution versus a conference, this difference should not be taken as an indication of the relative effectiveness of cautions versus conferences in reducing juvenile reoffending. Since 1998, a significant proportion of young offenders in New South Wales (NSW) have been dealt with by warning caution or youth justice conference under the Young Offenders Act of 1997 rather than proceeding through the traditional court system. Utilizing two cohorts of young people, one of which was cautioned by NSW Police in 1999 and the other completing a youth justice conference, this study describes the likelihood and frequency of reoffending, the time it takes to reoffend, and the likelihood of receiving a penalty of imprisonment all within 5 years of the caution or conference. (Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org. Goddard, Michael. The Age Of Steam: Constructed Identity and Recalcitrant Youth in a Papua New Guinea Village Michael Goddard describes the Village Court in Pari Village Port Moresby, Papua New Guine. The institution of the village court, where traditional leaders use informal processes to respond to conflicts and minor crimes, has been described as restorative. Goddard challenges this view by looking at the meanings behind certain practices in the village court at Pari. He states that in this analysis of the Pari Village Court, "I contextualise a judicial process which might be glossed as restorative in issues of comunal identity, the interpretation of tradition and the negotiation of modern sociality. I hope to show here that restorative justice cannot be analytically abstracted from its immediate social context, and that within that context it can founder on the contestability of the cultural meaning to which it is putatively adapted. Next 20 items » [1] 2 3 Document Actions Send this Print this	Africa Asia Europe Latin America Middle East North America and Caribbean Pacific Search 9932 publications on restorative justice Recent RJOB Comments Oakland as a RJ city? Jul 29, 2010 Trauma Jul 29, 2010 Psych Reports to BPT board Jul 29, 2010 More… Slide Show: What is Restorative Justice Click to view a slideshow discussing the definition of restorative justice. Jul 21, 2010 Promoting Restorative Justice in Panama Jul 28, 2010 Raising Community Awareness in Swaziland Jul 28, 2010 Exploring alternatives in Finland Jul 28, 2010 PF Rwanda Receives Grant for Reconciliation Work Jun 27, 2010 Restorative Justice in the Community.