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Working with Children

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Ben-Baruch, Suzy. Restorative Justice for Young Offenders.

Israel chose to first apply this new approach to the justice system for young first-time offenders. Offering these youngsters a way back to a noncriminal lifestyle without carrying the label and stigma of a criminal record is very much in line with current Israel Police policy. The authorities furthermore calculated that the new approach stood a good chance of reducing the worrying and growing number of young offenders. The central institution of the new process is a Family Group Conference (FGC). The concept was first borrowed during the 1980s by New Zealand jurists, from that country’s indigenous Maoris who have employed it for centuries. Various formats of FGC have been effectively employed in other countries: England, Sweden, Canada, USA, South Africa and Australia. (excerpt)

Gal-on-Lechno, Keren. Family Group Conferences in Youth Justice in Israel.

Israel has been experimenting with Family Group Conferences (FGC) in Youth Justice for a number of years as an alternative for young offenders who have been blamed for breaking the criminal law. The initiators of the program in Israel are the Ministry of Public Security in cooperation with the Israel Police, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the Joint-Ashalim organization. When project planning began in 1998-9, a key requirement was to adapt the idea from its implementation overseas (based on the New Zealand model) to Israeli conditions and needs — our particular population mix, the structure of our law enforcement system and our care and rehabilitation systems. This task was entrusted to a steering committee comprising representatives of the Ministry of Public Security, the Israel Police (IP), the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Joint-Ashalim, and the Keshet Association. By late 2000 fieldwork began, at first in only a handful of police stations; by 2002 it had been expanded to the present number of twelve. (excerpt)

Grably, Saray. Restorative Justice: Victim Offender Mediation and Circles in the Youth Probation Service Southern and Jerusalem Districts of Israel.

In Israel, the youth probation system has had the mandate since 1971 to implement corrective interventions for lawbreaking youth from age of 12 – 18. In 1992, the process of mediation in the forms of V.O.R.P., Circles and R.J. was introduced on a trial basis as a part of the rehabilitative process. After 2000, mediation was acknowledged officially as an acceptable form of intervention by the department of youth probation. Specialized units were established in three youth probation centers to provide mediation services on a nationwide level. Four sources refer to these units: 1) the Police 2) the Assigned Probation Officers 3) the Public Defender 4) the Juvenile Court System which operates without a jury system. In the dialogue I will present the eight-step-process that was developed in Israel in order to integrate relevant aspects of V.O.R.P., Circles & RJ for the purpose of adapting these forms of interventions into the Israeli corrective and social system. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Restorative Justice, Simon Fraser University. http://www.sfu.ca/crj/

Spak, Simone. Pilot Project for F.G.C. for Child Protection in Israel

In April 2001 the Service for Children and Youth in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Israel together with Ashalim, (The Association for Planning & Development of Services for Children and Youth at Risk & their Families) decided to launch an extensive pilot project of F.G.C. for child protection. Two previous attempts at implementing F.G.C. for child protection met with difficulties and failed. The current project invested in creating interest and trust in the F.G.C. approach as a suitable alternative method of dealing with child abuse and neglect. Eighteen municipalities all over the country were chosen to participate: cities and rural settlements in the center and the south of the country, small Arab towns in the north, and Bedouin settlements in the Negev desert. The unique aspect of this presentation lies in the application of F.G.C. in such a diversity of cultures and communities. This presentation focuses on the value of F.G.C. as a universal approach applicable in a wide range of family and cultural contexts.

Using Family Group Conferencing in Child Protection Cases in Israel.

Simone Spak is director of Family Group Conferencing in Child Protection, a program of Ashalim (the Association for Planning & Development of Services for Children and Youth at Risk & their Families) in Israel. In this article, she describes a pilot project to use Family Group Conferencing in child protection cases.