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Diverting Young Adults from Prison in NSW

The New South Wales (NSW) Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research recently released an evaluation report of a pilot community conferencing programme targeting young adults. The programme seeks to divert persons between the ages of 18 and 24 from prison to community conferences. The report discusses results from a survey of conference participants as well as interviews and focus group meetings with key stakeholders in Liverpool and Tweed Heads – the two local courts participating in the pilot programme.

Hayes, Hennessey. Apologies and Accounts in Youth Justice Conferencing: Reinterpreting Research Outcomes.

The literature on restorative justice is replete with findings that show offenders and victims judge restorative processes as fair and view outcomes as satisfactory. There is less evidence to suggest, however, that restorative processes are in fact restorative. I first consider how apology and forgiveness feature in one form of restorative justice (youth justice conferencing) and then examine findings from two major research projects in Australia (RISE and SAJJ) to show why reconciliation and repair are not common outcomes in restorative justice conferences. (author's abstract)

Sherman, Lawrence W and Strang, Heather. Restorative Justice and Deterring Crime.

The authors contend that experiments in reintegrative shaming by the Canberra police (Australia) indicate that offenders are more deterred from repeat offending after experiencing the restorative justice approach of diversionary conferencing than after court proceedings. These preliminary findings of the Canberra police conferencing program are especially important because some critics have called shaming conferences a "soft option."

McCold, Paul and Wachtel, Benjamin. The Bethlehem Pennsylvania Police Family Group Conferencing Project

This is a report on the Bethlehem Pennsylvania Police Family Group Conferencing Project. First-time moderately serious juvenile offenders were randomly assigned either to formal adjudication or to a diversionary "restorative policing" process called family group conferencing. Police-based family group conferencing employs trained police officers to facilitate a meeting attended by juvenile offenders, their victims, and their respective family and friends, to discuss the harm caused by the offenderxe2x80x99s actions and to develop an agreement to repair the harm. Victim and offender participation is voluntary. The effect of the program was measured through surveys of victims, offenders, offenderxe2x80x99s parents and police officers and by examining outcomes of conferences and formal adjudication. Results are related to six questions about restorative policing. Findings include: 42% participation rate, 100% of conferences (n=67) reaching an agreement, 94% of offenders (n=80) fully complying with agreements, and participant satisfaction and sense of fairness exceeding 96%. Results suggests that recidivism was more a function of offenders choice to participate than the effects of the conferencing, per se. Violent offenders participating in conferences had lower rearrest rates than violent offenders declining to participate, but this was not true for property offenders.

Palk, Gerard and Johnson, Lyn and Pollard, Gail and Johnson, Lyn. Community conferencing in Queensland

Community conferencing for juvenile offenders began in Queensland in 1997. This report covers the legislation in Queensland behind community conferencing. Three pilot projects are described, including information on project evaluation, data collection about actual conferences, project outcomes, and participant responses (with respect to accountability, reintegration, and recidivism). Two common concerns about the program are addressed – victim participation, and fair agreement outcomes for offenders. Future considerations for implementation of community conferencing are recognized. They relate to pre-conference preparation, conference convening, and ongoing monitoring of outcomes.

Moore, David B and Forsyth, Lubbica and O'Connell, Terry and Forsyth, Lubbica. A New Approach to Juvenile Justice: An Evaluation of Family conferencing in Wagga Wagga

This report is concerned with a process known as the family group conference, the basic principles of which are simple. In the wake of an offence, and where guilt is admitted, victims, offenders, and their supporters are given an opportunity to meet in the presence of a coordinator or facilitator. Conference participants are encouraged to discuss the direct or indirect effects of the incident on them. They may then negotiate plans for repairing the damage and minimising further harm arising from that incident. The conference process is guided by participatory democratic principles. It seeks a just response to a harmful breach of social and/or legal norms.

Sherman, Lawrence W and Strang, Heather and Woods, Daniel and Strang, Heather. Recidivism Patterns in the Canberra Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE)

In this intermediate report on the data collected by the Canbera Reintegrative Shaming Experiment, the researchers discuss the recidivism patterns of three types of offenders: violent offenders, drunk drivers, and shoplifters. The data showed the before and after one-year recidivism rates for the groups randomly assigned to either the conferencing or the court.

Daly, Kathleen and Jane Christie-Johnston and Liz Mumford and Jane Christie-Johnston and Mary McKenna and Jane Christie-Johnston and Michele Venables and Mary McKenna and Liz Mumford and Jane Christie-Johnston. South Australia Juvenile Justice (SAJJ) Research on Conferencing. Technical report no. 1: Project overview and research instruments.

The South Australia Juvenile Justice (SAJJ) Research on Conferencing project consists of observations of conferencing in response to juvenile offenses. SAJJ focuses on ways of measuring restorative justice practices and assessing variability in the conference process and participants' understandings of the process. Technical Report No. 1 provides an overview of the project and its research instruments. Part I covers the following topics: the legal and organizational context of conferencing in South Australia; research leading up to SAJJ; key research questions; time frame; differences with the Reintegrative Shaming Experiment (RISE); design considerations; theoretical aims; sampling plan; data gathering plan; conference numbers; and procedures in conducting interviews. Part II describes the research instruments used - background material, design of each instrument, source and rationale of the questions, and problems in using the instruments. Technical Report No. 1 should be read in conjunction with Technical Report No. 2, which can be found at this Internet address: http://www.aic.gov.au/rjustice/sajj/tech-report-2.pdf

Moore, David B and O'Connell, Terry. Family Conferencing in Wagga Wagga: A Communitarian Model of Justice

Originally part of a contribution to a debate at Melbourne University, this paper describes the Wagga Model and engages with academic critics, giving particular regard to the perspective of local police, welfare and legal workers. The origins of the Wagga Wagga model of family group conferences is explained, difficulties in its implementation described, and its modification based upon Braithwaite's theories discussed. The theoretical basis for the model is discussed and the authors respond to some of the criticisms of this version of FGCs. The early evaluation effort and its results are briefly described and the application of the approach to schools is discussed. Finally, seven case studies are presented describing case background, police intervention, the caution process, outcomes and issues for each.

Harris, Nathan and Burton, Jamie B. The Reliability of Observed Reintegrative Shaming, Shame, Defiance and Other Key Concepts in Diversionary Conferences

The Reintegrative Shaming Experiment, which began in the Australian Capital Territory in July 1995, is a comparison between the court system and an alternative to traditional criminal justice interventions, called Diversionary Conferencing. The experiment is primarily focused upon testing differences in the level of recidivism resulting from the two interventions. The experiment also measures a large number of factors which have been predicted by a variety of theoretical perspectives to impact upon criminal activity and recidivism. This report presents the results of that study.

O'Mahony, David and Campbell, Catriona. Mainstreaming Restorative Justice for Young Offenders through Youth Conferencing - the experience of Northern Ireland

The youth justice system in Northern Ireland is quite distinct and different to that in the rest of the United Kingdom or Ireland. It has also evolved considerably in the past ten to fifteen years and there have been very significant changes to its whole philosophy and operation as recently as 2003, with the introduction of a Youth Conferencing Service. The Conferencing Service now deals with young offenders using an approach based around the principles of restorative justice and the very process and structure of the system has changed to incorporate this new approach (detailed below). This paper looks at crime and how the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland deals with young people who have offended. It examines what is known about youth offending in general and looks specifically at a number of innovative approaches to criminal justice practice. The police response to youth offending is examined and their specialist teams of officers who deal with young offenders. The courts and sentencing are then looked at with attention being placed on the new arrangements for holding children in custody. The range of measures introduced following the Criminal Justice Review are then examined, and specifically the youth conferencing arrangements, which adopt a restorative justice model to deal with young offenders. The paper draws to a close with a critical overview of the major changes in our system of youth justice and the possible lessons that can be learnt from an international perspective. (excerpt)

Beckett, Helen and O'Mahony, David and Doak, Jonathan and O'Mahony, David and Campbell, Catriona and O'Mahony, David and Jackson, John and Campbell, Catriona and Doak, Jonathan and O'Mahony, David. Interim Evaluation of the Northern Ireland Youth Conferencing Scheme

This bulletin presents the interim findings of an evaluation of the recently introduced Northern Ireland youth conferencing initiative. The findings are based on research conducted by the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Queen's University, Belfast and focus on the functioning of the scheme in the early months of its operation, from its inception on the 1st December 2003 until the 31st August 2004. (excerpt)

Maxwell, Gabrielle. Achieving Effective Outcomes in Youth Justice: Implications of new research for Principles, Policy and Practice

New research from New Zealand follows up the file outcomes over three years for 1003 young people aged 16 years who had family group conferences in 1998. Five hundred and twenty of them were interviewed. Observational data and interviews were collected from another 115 cases in 2001/2002. Findings are presented on the extent to which restorative goals have been implemented. Critical factors predicting outcomes are identified and the implications of these for policy and practice are discussed. The research demonstrates that the nature of the youth justice does affect critical outcomes for young people: both in terms of reducing offending and increasing the probability of other positive life outcomes. Restorative practices that include empowerment, the repair of harm and reintegrative outcomes make a positive difference while the extent of embeddedness in the criminal justice system, severe and retributive outcomes and stigmatic shaming have negative effects. There are also important findings for crime prevention that suggest the need to focus on support for families, the importance of educational qualifications and the need to respond effectively when children first come to the attention of the welfare and youth justice systems. Proposals are made for standards against which practice can be assessed. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.

Paulin, Judy and Lash, Barb and Kingi, Venezia and Lash, Barb and Huirama, Tautari and Kingi, Venezia. The Rotorua Second Chance Community-Managed Restorative Justice Programme: An Evaluation

The Ministry of Justice, in consultation with Mana Social Services, commissioned this evaluation of the Rotorua Second Chance Restorative Justice Programme in 2003. The programme is funded by central government through the Crime Prevention Unit, Ministry of Justice. The programme was selected for re-evaluation so that best practice principles for community-based restorative justice programmes utilising tikanga-based practices might be identified. The evaluation objectives were to: 1. describe the programme - its history, the context in which it operates, delivery, objectives and resources; 2. determine the effectiveness of the programme, in relation to its objectives; 3. contribute to the development of best practice principles for community-managed restorative justice programmes utilising tikanga-based practice; 4. describe the extent to which this programme has contributed to the further development of the partnership between government and communities. (excerpt)

Paulin, Judy and Kingi, Venezia and Lash, Barb and Kingi, Venezia. The Wanganui Community-Managed Restorative Justice Programme: An Evaluation

The Ministry of Justice, in consultation with the Wanganui providers, commissioned this evaluation of the Wanganui Community-Managed Restorative Justice Programme in 2003. The programme is funded by central government through the Crime Prevention Unit, Ministry of Justice. The programme was selected for evaluation because it was considered to be well managed and effective. The evaluation objectives were to: 1. describe the programme - its history, the context in which it operates, delivery, objectives and resources; 2. determine the effectiveness of the programme, in relation to its objectives; 3. contribute to the development of best practice principles for community-managed restorative justice programmes; and 4. describe the extent to which this programme has contributed to the further development of the partnership between government and communities. The extent to which the programme has developed its services to meet the needs of M�ori, Pacific, and other cultural groups was also to be examined. (excerpt)

Behtz, Sarah Anne. Justice for All?: Victim Satisfaction with Restorative Justice Conferences

While the process of restorative justice is fairly new, several programs have been implemented globally and found to be effective in various aspects over the past 30 years. Very little empirical research has been gathered from these global programs though members of the criminal justice community as well as members of the general public have expressed interest in learning more about the programs and effectiveness and opinions of the programs. This study takes a closer look at what victims have expressed as being important to them regarding the criminal justice system and satisfaction with how their cases are handled in both traditional court proceedings as well as through restorative justice processes. Author's abstract.

Brown, Louise. Mainstream or margin? The current use of family group conferences in child welfare practice in the UK

A decade has passed since family group conferences were initially introduced into the UK by Family Rights Group. Ten years on, this paper examines the extent to which family group conferences have developed and become embedded into current social work practice. Despite the initial interest by social work practitioners and the picture often painted of a growing radical movement, the degree to which family group conferencing has become part of mainstream practice has until now remained fairly anecdotal. A number of difficulties have been identified with implementing the model, including fitting it into an existing system and the challenge it poses to professionals to hand over power. Two surveys, the first undertaken in 1999 and the second in 2001, describe the current use of the model in the UK by Councils with Social Services Responsibilities (Councils). The surveys reveal the areas of practice within which family group conferences are being used, the size and capacity of projects and why some Councils have adopted the model whilst others remain hesitant. It concludes by considering why family group conferences remain on the margins of practice. Author's abstract.

Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. National Evaluation of the Restorative Justice in Schools Programme

The Restorative Justice in Schools programme consisted of nine local Yots working across 26 schools (20 secondary and 6 primary). The contract to evaluate these initiatives was awarded to Partners in Evaluation, a specialist agency with a multi-ethnic team of researchers and a national reputation for conducting evaluations in the fields of health, education, social exclusion and regeneration. The evaluation was intended to explore the following research questions: 1. What are the levels of victimisation, bullying and robbery in the schools in the study? 2. How are restorative justice approaches introduced into the schools? 3. To what extent are participants in restorative justice conferences (victims and offenders) satisfied with the process at the time of the conference? 4. To what extent do the conferences show short-term and long-term effects on the participants' experience of victimisation, robbery and bullying? 5. Do conferences and other restorative justice approaches have wider effects on the nature and frequency of acts of victimisation in the schools involved in the project? 6. Are restorative justice conferences a useful tool in reducing school exclusions? This report shows the findings of the national evaluation. In writing the report, our aim has been to produce a report that is concise and usable, presenting the most important data so that the key findings and messages do not get lost. (excerpt)

Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. Summary of the national evaluation of the Restorative Justice in Schools Programme

In May 2000, the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales launched a pilot initiative in two schools in the London borough of Lambeth using restorative justice conferences to tackle exclusions, truancy, bullying and other forms of anti-social behaviour. Following early signs of promise, in April 2001, the Board gained three years, funding under the Treasury's Invest to Save scheme to extend the programme to the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, and two other London boroughs, which subsequently withdrew from the scheme. (excerpt)

Crow, Gill and Marsh, Peter and Holton, Liz and Marsh, Peter. Supporting Pupils, Schools and Families: An Evaluation of the Hampshire Family Group Conferences in Education Project

Hampshire County Council Social Services Department was one of the first UK agencies to promote the use of Family Group Conferences (FGCs) as a means of involving wider family networks in the support of children and young people. They took their first referrals in 1994. The model originates in New Zealand and has now been subject to significant development and testing (Marsh and Crow, 1998). In 1998 a bid for education funding by the Principal Welfare Officer allowed the setting up of 'Education FGCs' to be developed. The Conferences try to help young people experiencing some difficulty in school, but as this report will show there are often family issues and welfare concerns as well. The report evaluates the work of the Education FGC project from its first implementation through the experience of the young people many months after their FGC. (excerpt)