Summary
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This paper updates preliminary results reported in 1996. (For that report, see the following. McCold, Paul, and John Stahr. 1996. "Bethlehem Police Family Group Conferencing Project." Paper, with preliminary results, presented at the American Society of Criminology Conference, Annual Meeting. Chicago, 20-23 November 1996.)This paper is an evaluation of a restorative justice program operated by the police in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a mid-sized American city. Although developed independently from the restorative justice movement, family group conferencing is considered an important new development in restorative justice practice as a means of dealing more effectively with young offenders by diverting them from court and involving their extended families and victims in addressing their wrongdoing. Originating in New Zealand in 1989, conferencing was substantially revised as a community policing technique in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, in 1991. The âWagga modelâ? was introduced to North America in 1995 by the Real Justice® organization.
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