NCJ Number
185956
Date Published
2000
Length
103 pages
Annotation
This report presents the results of an evaluation of specific aspects of the New South Wales (Australia) Youth Justice Conferencing scheme, which was introduced by the passage of the Young Offenders Act of 1997.
Abstract
Most conferencing schemes for juvenile offenders, including the New South Wales scheme, have evolved from New Zealand's model of Family Group Conferences. In New South Wales, the legislatively defined purpose of a youth justice conference is to make decisions and to determine an outcome plan regarding the youth. Offenses eligible for youth justice conferences are summary offenses or indictable offenses that can be dealt with summarily and for which neither a warning nor a formal police caution is the appropriate intervention. The conference is designed to promote acceptance of the youth's responsibility for his/her negative behavior, the strengthening of the youth's family, the provision of developmental and support services tailored to the youth's problems, enhancement of the rights and place of victims, and culturally appropriate responses to the youth's needs. In the evaluation, 969 participants (263 victims, 353 offenders, and 353 support persons of offenders) completed a short, structured questionnaire at the end of their conference. The evaluation found that most conference participants were satisfied with their conference. The majority of the conferences achieved the legislative intention of including victims and the offender's immediate family in conferences; however, only 8.1 percent of the conferences met the statutory time period within which conferences are to be held. 43 tables, 36 references, and appended copies of the survey questionnaires