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Sherman, Lawrence W and Strang, Heather and Woods, Daniel and Strang, Heather. Captains of restorative justice: Experience, legitimacy and recidivism by type of offense

The authors report on the substantial variety of effects on offenders resulting from restorative justice programs based on the same model, but run by different people with various levels of experience and with different systems of caseload management. Their study examined over 500 restorative justice conferences conducted during the Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE) in Canberra, Australia, 1995-2000. This paper provides key findings from the RISE programs. The focus is on the critical role the leader of the conference plays in influencing the effects of the program on participants.

Calhoun, Avery. Calgary Community Conferencing- School component 1999-2000: A year in review.

Begun in 1998, Calgary Community Conferencing (CCC) consists of a joint initiative involving governmental and nongovernmental organizations. It take referrals from the youth justice system and the school system. This report focuses on CCC's work with schools in 1999-2000. Data presented include the following: the number of conferences conducted and participating schools; types of incidents and referral sources; response time with respect to the incident, referral, and conference; information on the participants; the direct services provided by conferencing staff to participants; restoration agreements; school consequences for young people who participated in conferences; incidents referred but not brought to conference; and characteristics of youth participants

Braithwaite, John and Mugford, S. Conditions of Successful Reintegration Ceremonies

Shifting criminal justice practices away from stigmatization and toward reintegration is no small challenge. The innovation of community conferences in New Zealand and Australia has 2 structural features that are conducive to reintegrative shaming: (1) selection of the people who respect and care most about the offender as conference participants (conductive to reintegration); and (2) confrontation with victims (conducive to shaming). Observation of some failures and successes of these conferences in reintegrating both offenders and victims is used to hypothesize 14 conditions of successful reintegration ceremonies. Data were obtained primarily from fieldwork.

Melvin-Mickens, J. The Privacy Implications of Family Group Conferences in the United States

The New Zealand-style family group conference raises some interesting issues about the traditional notions of privacy when abusive parents object to sharing information with extended family members. This chapter reviews privacy law in the United States on the assumption that FGCs should go forward whether or not the child's parent or legal guardian consents to the sharing of information with members of the child's extended family. Because of the importance of involving extended family members, this chapter considers the viability of state-convened FGCs even if there is no parental consent.

McDonald, J and Moore, David B and Hyndman, M and O'Connell, Terry and Hyndman, M and Thorsborne, M and O'Connell, Terry and Moore, David B and Hyndman, M. Family Group Conferencing: A Training Manual

This training manual was developed by the Australian innovators of the Wagga model of community conferences/family group conferences in New South Wales. This loose-leaf booklet provides a brief history, theory and philosophy of community conferences. Presented are explanations of receiving case details, developing a conference plan, contacting participants, arranging the conference, the conference process, conference resolutions, and techniques of conferencing coordination. Additional materials include mediation versus conferencing, the coordinator's guide with sample forms, and the coordinators checklist. Case studies, training transparency masters, and additional readings are appended.

McDonald, J and Moore, David B. Real Justice Training Manual: Coordinating Family Group Conferences

This training manual was developed for use with a three-day Real Justice Training workshop. The manual introduces the history family group conferences (FGCs). The theories of why FGCs work so well, and the philosophy of restorative justice underlying the practice are presented. The role of conference coordinators and appropriate incidents for conferencing are discussed. The steps of conference preparation including contacting participants are explained. The conference process and resolution process are presented along with recommended coordination techniques. Included are necessary contact, conference, and evaluation forms, the conference coordinator's "script", and a glossary of terms.

Maxwell, Gabrielle and Morris, Allison. Family Group Conferences and Re-offending

This article presents some preliminary information on the reconviction patterns of youth processed by family group conferences (FGC) in New Zealand. Among the 161 young people 35% had no convictions for either criminal or serious traffic offenses in either youth court or in an adult court. Results indicate five groups of reoffenders: persistent recidivists, intermediate recidivists, occasional recidivists, traffic recidivists, and occasional traffic recidivists. Those who became persistent recidivists were more likely to have originally committed more serious and a larger number of offenses, to have had a previous history, were more likely to be Maori, and were more likely to have been dealt severely with at the FGC.

Maxwell, Gabrielle and Morris, Allison. Research on Family Group Conferences With Young Offenders in New Zealand

This analysis reports data on family group conferences for more than 200 juvenile offenders in New Zealand in 1990 and 1991. The principles underlying family group conferences are new, radical, and exciting in that they emphasize diversion, restorative justice, and responding to the needs of youth through strengthening families and acknowledging cultural differences. Results revealed that these conferences achieved diversionary outcomes for the great majority of young offenders. However, crucial questions have been raised about the system's fairness and its ability to achieve its ideals. Although the process has greater potential than traditional processes to achieve these goals, much depends on practice, resources, and the systems that support the processes.

Maxwell, Gabrielle. Family Decision-Making in Youth Justice: The New Zealand model

This article reviews the goals and objectives New Zealand's Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act of 1989. Family group conferences (FGCs) and the efforts to evaluate the system are described. FGCs has succeeded in diverting the majority of young offenders from criminal courts and reliance on the use of institutions has been dramatically reduced. Families are encouraged to take responsibility and the process is equally satisfactory for Pakeha as for Maori. Concern is raised about professionals taking over and distorting the process, the lack of information available to families, and the lack of resources and support services.

Marsh, P and Crow, G. Family Group Conferences in Child Welfare Services in England and Wales

In England and Wales, the principles of the Children Act 1989 and the research underpinning this Act provide the backdrop for family group conferences. An organized program of training has been coordinated and supported since 1992 by the Family Rights Group, with research support from the University of Sheffield. This chapter describes this backdrop to the program, outlines some of the key areas now being examined, and provides a brief description of the current state of development of family group conferences in England.

Longclaws, L. and Barkwell, L and Galaway, Burt and Barkwell, L. Piloting Family Group Conferences for Young Aboriginal Offenders in Winnipeg, Canada

This paper reports on a pilot project using family group conferences for eight Aboriginal young offenders and their families in Winnipeg. With the cooperation of the probation service, the recommendations of the conferences were substituted for a predisposition report and were presented to the court as the recommended disposition. The results of the process are described, including initial meetings, venue and timing of FGCs, participants, and the conference process. The plans developed and the process of presenting them to court are described. The judges who sentenced in the cases largely ignored the recommendations from the FGCs. Implications are discussed.

Kent, M. Family Group Conferences in Situations of Family Abuse/Violence

Presents a thorough overview of the current state of the knowledge in using Family Group Conferences with domestic violence. The first section is a discussion of the issues in using Family Group Conferences as they were first initiated and are currently practiced in New Zealand, and subsequently adapted in various locations in working with situations that involve abusive family dynamics. Section two is an annotated bibliography with 46 entries listing the key findings and conclusions of each source. The third sections organizes the bibliographical information into themes for easier reference to specific areas of practice as they were identified in the literature.

Immarigeon, Russ. Family Group Conferences in Canada and the United States: An Overview

This paper suggests possible uses of New Zealand style family group conferences in Canada and the United States. Applications are considered in British Columbia with aboriginal empowerment efforts. The interest in Kellogg and McConnell Clark foundations and the American Bar Association in preservation of families programs are considered. Recent child care and protection programs in Kansas, Michigan, Vermont, Maine, New York are discussed. The author concludes that practitioners and policy-makers have not yet examined or explored the full implications of the range of changes possible through family group conferences, especially the role of professionals.

Hudson, Joe and Morris, Allison and Galaway, Burt and Morris, Allison and Maxwell, Gabrielle and Galaway, Burt. Family Group Conferences: Perspectives on Policy and Practice

An anthology of 14 papers review the principles and practices of family group conferences (FGCs) in the juvenile justice and child protection systems of several nations. Topics include: the origin and development of family group conferences; use of FGCs in child protection work in New Zealand; research on child welfare family group conferences in New Zealand; impact of FGCs with young offenders in South Australia; FGCs in Victoria, AUS; child welfare services FGCs in England and Wales; FGCs in Canada and the U.S.; family group decision making in Oregon; FGCs and young aboriginal offenders in Winnipeg, CAN; and family group decision making in Canada.

Hudson, Joe and Morris, Allison and Galaway, Burt and Morris, Allison and Maxwell, Gabrielle and Galaway, Burt. Introduction [to Family Group Conferences]

The first statutory formulation of the family group conferences (FGCs) model was in New Zealand in 1989. However, participatory processes and principles evolved at the same time in England and Oregon. Currently, FGCs are used in many countries as a preferred decision-making forum for youthful offenders and children requiring care and protection. Despite differences among jurisdictions, several common themes are apparent. FGCs are more likely than traditional forms of dispute resolution to give effective voice to those who are traditionally disadvantaged. Unresolved issues are discussed.

Heslop, J. Diverting Young Offenders from the Formal Justice System

Two alternatives to institutionalization for juvenile offenders, police cautioning and the juvenile and mediation reparation programs, in New South Wales are described. A caution is a formal procedure in which the offender admits to the commission of a less serious offense and agrees to participate with a parent or guardian in the caution process at a police station. In the mediation/reparation program, young offenders are encouraged to make direct amends to the victims of the crime. Any agreement between the two parties is monitored by the Community Justice Center. Benefits are incurred in this type of program for the victim, the young offender, the community, and the police.

Bargen, J. Critical View of Conferencing

A critique of two new criminal justice initiatives, sentencing circles in Canada and family group conferences in Australia, is presented. Sentencing circles in Canada involve a process whereby community members recommend the sentence in cases involving other members of the same community. Family group conferences in Australia allow persons directly affected by crime to actively participate in dealing with the consequences of crime. Both collective and individual accountability for offending behavior. Both initiatives are evaluated in terms of their implications for aboriginal and indigenous communities.

Hassall, I and Maxwell, Gabrielle and Robertson, J. and Maxwell, Gabrielle. A Briefing Paper: An Appraisal of the First Year of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989

Three papers describe changes brought about by the New Zealand Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989. The first paper examines the Family Group Conference as an innovative method of involving families in statutory care and protection and youth justice processes. The second paper presents statistical data for 1990 on the disposition of children and youth who came to attention, under either the care and protection or youth justice provisions of the Act. The third article finds that the number of arrests, court appearances, convictions and court orders sharply decreased following passage of the act.

Hassall, I. Origin and Development of Family Group Conferences

Our behavior within families and as families is integrated into our overall strategy for survival as a species. Families through antiquity were and are decision-making bodies. Until 1989 New Zealand, like other countries relied on courts, the police and child protection service to make decisions for families in trouble. Now responsibility belongs to the families, with professional assistance, to make critical placement and protection decisions. This paper discusses the factors contributing to, and the process of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989. The purposes and outcomes of family group conferences are described.

Hardin, M and Mickens, J and Cole, E and Mickens, J and Lancour, R and Cole, E. Family Group Conferences in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases: Learning from the Experience of New Zealand

Family group conferences are a means of involving extended family members and other persons important to troubled families in cases involving proven child abuse and neglect. The purposes of this book are to explain how family group conferences work, the advantages and pitfalls, identify issues prior to implementing in the United States, share New Zealand's knowledge and experience, and encourage proper evaluation in connection with the use of family group conferences in the United States. Appendices include the New Zealand's Children Young Persons and their Families Act 1989, and the New Zealand's Children Young Persons Service Care and Protection Coordinator's Manual.