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Summary

Hakaiha, M (1993). "Youth Justice Teams and the Family Meeting in Western Australia: A Trans-Tasman analysis." In C. Alder and J. Wundersitz (eds.), Family Conferencing and Juvenile Justice: The Way Forward or Misplaced Optimism? Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. Pp 15-44.

This paper describes the juvenile diversion scheme known as Youth Justice Teams established as pilot programs in Western Australia. Each team consists of a youth justice coordinator, a police officer, a Ministry of Education officer and an Aboriginal community worker. YJTs have a mandate to divert juvenile cases deemed too serious for police cautioning and not serious enough to require court disposition. The roles of each team member is described and the case referral process and assessment plan is explained. The primary decision is whether to hold a family meeting based upon the New Zealand version of FGCs. The stages of the family meeting process are described and this process is compared with New Zealand FGCs.

Link: www.aic.gov.au/publications/lcj/family/ch5.pdf

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