Home → Resources → Restorative Justice around the World → Pacific → All Documents

Pacific

Up one level

• Australia |
• Fiji |
• Guam |
• New Zealand |
• Palau |
• Papua New Guinea |
• Tonga

Youth Diversion in Tonga

In late 2006, the Tongan Ministry of Justice created a youth diversion programme to quickly respond to offending by young first-time offenders. This article, written by Dr. Maxwell and Sean Buckley of the Victoria University of Wellington, presents the findings from their April 2007 interim progress report on the pilot project.

Incorporating Custom Law into State Law in Melanesia1

In this article, Pat Howley describes the revival of custom law in Bougainville and its importance in building peace.

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.

Thorburn, Stan. A Survey of 10 Years of New Zealand Court Cases on Restorative Justice

This paper by Judge Stan Thorburn offers a brief account of the development of restorative justice in the Courts of New Zealand since it has been practised over the past 10 years. In particular, it examines a selection of court decisions and identifies significant principles emerging from them. Finally, it compares those to legislation, in particular the Sentencing Act 2002.

Wing Lo, T and Maxwell, Gabrielle and Wong, Dennis and Maxwell, Gabrielle. Diversion From Youth Courts in Five Asia Pacific Jurisdictions: Welfare or Restorative Solutions

This article examines how juvenile offenders are diverted from prosecution in juvenile courts in five Asia Pacific jurisdictions: Queensland, Australia; New Zealand; Hong Kong; Singapore; and China. In all of these jurisdictions, there has been a trend away from punitive and retributive approaches to the diversion of juvenile offenders from prosecution in a court to the community-based welfare model and the restorative model. The community-based welfare model relies primarily on counseling, community support, and educational assistance and is usually led by professionals. This model tends to categorize juvenile offenders as having problem behaviors and emotional conditions that require treatment and supervision. The restorative model emphasizes the accountability of juvenile offenders for the harms their behavior caused and uses negotiation among the youth, their victims, and the youth's family to develop measures for repairing the harm done and addressing the youth's behaviors that caused the harm. This model limits the involvement of professionals in decisionmaking about the disposition of the case. New Zealand and Queensland use the restorative model. Criticisms of this model have included the lack of due process and protections for the rights of offenders, as well as the potential for undue influence by the police. Hong Kong and Singapore have adopted a traditional rehabilitation and welfare orientation whereby police divert juveniles from the courts through police cautions and referrals to community support and guidance services operated by social workers. In China, community-based practices such as police cautions, mediation, and educational assistance are used in diverting youth from court-based processing. Community-based sanctions are particularly susceptible to the influence of personal power and persuasion, and outcomes may favor those who have close affiliations with or hold powerful positions in the government. Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov.

Chan, Janet B.L.. Reshaping Juvenile Justice. The NSW Young Offenders Act 1997

Reshaping Juvenile Justice examines reforms in New South Wales under the Young Offenders Act 1997. The Act institutionalizes a fresh approach to juvenile justice – one that regulates police discretion at the gate-keeping level, emphasizes diversion as a principle, introduces restorative conferencing as an intermediate intervention, and relegates the use of courts to the last resort. (publisher’s abstract)

Maxwell, Gabrielle and Hayes, Hennessey. Restorative Justice Developments in the Pacific Region.

Restorative justice has grown in popularity around the world, and various restorative initiatives are in place ore are being trialled. New Zealand and Australia have the most experience with restorative justice in the form of conferencing primarily for young offenders, although conferencing for adult offenders is increasingly being used in these jurisdictions. In the Pacific Islands older forms of customary practices endure despite the introduction of modern Western justice systems. In this paper we provide a comprehensive review of these developments to show the degree to which this region has embraced restorative justice as a way of responding to crime. (Authors' abstract)

Adams, Helen and Cronin-Lampe, Ron and Cronin-Lampe, Kathy and Jenner, Kerry and Drewery, Wendy and Cronin-Lampe, Ron and Macfarlane, Angus H and Drewery, Wendy and McMenamin, Donald and Cronin-Lampe, Ron and Jenner, Kerry and Macfarlane, Angus H and Winslade, John and Drewery, Wendy and McMenamin, Donald and Cronin-Lampe, Ron and Cronin-Lampe, Kathy and Macfarlane, Angus H and Winslade, John and Drewery, Wendy and Prestidge, Brian and McMenamin, Donald and Cronin-Lampe, Ron and Cronin-Lampe, Kathy and Jenner, Kerry and Macfarlane, Angus H and Winslade, John and Drewery, Wendy. Restorative Practices for Schools, A Resource: Human Development and Counselling Monograph 1

This booklet has been prepared for the use of a range of educational professionals who are interested in introducing restorative practices in their school. The materials were originally prepared for the use of schools for the purpose of reducing suspensions. (excerpt)

Department of Corrective Services. Justice Mediation.

This document outlines procedures for post-sentence mediation between victims and offenders within the Department of Corrective Service, Queensland, Australia.

Daly, Kathleen and Curtis-Fawley, Sarah. Restorative Justice for Victims of Sexual Assault

This article analyzes the use of restorative justice (RJ)practices in cases of juvenile sexual assault through the use of two case studies from South Australia. Following the analysis, the authors conclude that the empowering process of RJ for victims of sexual assault may be one way of “redefining the realities” of these crimes. The two cases of sexual assault involved youthful male offenders and youthful female victims and both were finalized by a family conference in South Australia. The first case involved a confident victim who was described as knowing what she wanted from the family conference process. Although she had a positive experience, the victim had two main criticisms of the process. First, she believed the process was procedurally unfair in that she had no influence over what should be included in the agreement. Second, the victim believed the agreement was too lenient on the offender. In the second case study, which involved intrafamilial sexual intercourse, family conflict clouded the conference and the victim reported feeling intimidated by the offender during the process. Each case is followed by a discussion of the problems and benefits of using RJ practices in sexual assault cases in light of the experiences of the victims. One of the main problems cited with the use of RJ for sexual assault cases was the power imbalances that were evident between victims and offenders as well as between victims and offender advocates and youth court staff. Benefits to utilizing an RJ approach included victim empowerment through telling their stories and the requirement that offenders take responsibility for the offense. The case studies presented here were drawn from an in-depth study of 14 sexual and family violence cases finalized by family conference during the last part of 2005 in South Australia. An archival analysis was also performed on 387 juvenile sexual offenses finalized between 1995 and 2001 by formal caution, conference, or in Youth Court.

Hayes, Hennessey and Morris, Allison and Maxwell, Gabrielle and Hayes, Hennessey. Conferencing and Restorative Justice

Family group conferences in the New Zealand youth justice system have been the centre of international interest since they were introduced there in 1989, and they have since been imitated by a number of countries. Enabling legislation for juvenile offenders has been passed in New Zealand, Australia, England and Wales, Canada, Ireland, and Singapore. Also in New Zealand, legislation has been passed for adult offenders. Various versions of conferencing for young offenders have been introduced in Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States. More recently, new initiatives have been taken to introduce restorative conferencing in Brazil and Argentina for both adults and young people. In this chapter, we describe restorative justice conferencing for juveniles with a particular emphasis on New Zealand and Australia and assess the extent to which it can be said to reflect restorative justice processes and to result in restorative justice outcomes using research chiefly drawn from Australasia and North America. In addition, we examine data on the extent to which conferencing can reduce re-offending. But first, we discuss the development of restorative justice conferencing. (excerpt)

Sherman, Lawrence W and Barnes, Geoffrey. Restorative Justice and Offenders' Respect for the Law

Sherman and Barnes review a new practice by the Canberra police. The new method, called "diversionary conferencing" in the ACT, was introduced in 1994 and has been under evaluation since mid-1995. It adopts principles of restorative justice and seeks to condemn the crime but not the criminal. Conferences work by diverting confessed offenders from court to a far more intense, personal (and lengthy) alternative. Influenced also by juvenile justice reforms in New Zealand, these conferences represent a radically new approach to community policing because they mobilise a community of concerned citizens around the offender, the victim, and the crime.

Carroll, M. Implementation Issues: Considering the Conferencing Options for Victoria

The potential advantages and dangers of family group conferences are discussed in the context of the existing juvenile justice system in Victoria under the Children and Young Persons Act 1989. These approaches have led to fewer young people admitted by courts to supervised programs making the need for more diversion approaches questionable. Concerns about police-based family group conferences include police neutrality, police role as prosecutor and judge, and program costs. Concerns about the New Zealand model include professional involvement in decision making, low victim satisfaction, net-widening, and costs of program implementation.

Nolan, Christine. Alternative Dispute Resolution in Aboriginal and Islander Communities: The Community Justice Programs Experience.

Nolan expresses the ideas of conflict between people being co-opted by the state. She then relates how this is doubly true for Aboriginal peoples whose methods of dispute resolution were subsumed by colonizing powers. In an attempt to bring alternative dispute resolution to communities, the community justice program used mediation. The program provided and trained mediators for communities. The program tried to be culturally sensitive enough to allow the aboriginal communities to develop their own systems.

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.

Knight, Jeff. Having Their Say-The Role of Victims in Diversionary Conferencing.

The author, a Senior Constable on the Diversionary Conferencing Team of the Australian Federal Police, discusses Diversionary Conferencing in the Australian Capital Territory, including the role of the victim and how the process can help the victim in recovering from the effect of the crime.

New Zealand Ministry of Justice.. "He hinatore ke te ao Maori- A glimpse into the Maori world: Maori perspectives on justice. "

Maori people are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system in New Zealand. At the same time, Maori terms are increasingly used in New Zealand statutes. In view of all of this, the New Zealand Ministry of Justice set out to examine traditional Maori perspectives on justice. The Ministry’s primary purpose in this book is not to recommend criminal justice reform. It is to achieve an understanding of Maori customary law (“tikanga") by exploring Maori cultural values, beliefs, principles, and practices, especially as these concern dispute resolution. The book consists of three parts: the first part deals with traditional Maori concepts and customary law; the second part presents eight case studies of dispute resolution from the 1930s and 1940s in parts of New Zealand where Maori custom still was strong; and the third part surveys a collection of Maori behaviors, philosophies, emotions, and cultural influences. Appendices to the book provide a chronology of the project, terms of reference, and the methodology. A glossary of Maori terms is also included.

Mckenzie, Doug. "Implementation of strategic partnerships and effective practices."

Mckenzie, highlighting the city of Fairfield near Sydney, Australia, describes the importance of strategic partnerships in a community’s efforts in crime prevention and enhancement of community safety. He emphasizes how multi-disciplinary project teams can establish and contribute to better practices for the benefit of the community. Taking a detailed look at the Fairfield City Council Crime Prevention Program, the paper examines the project management focus of the program, the structure of management, performance and output measures (including a number of tables with crime statistics and information about partnerships), and sample projects being put into practice.

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.

Wells, Annette. "New directions in juvenile justice in WA."

Focusing on Western Australia, Wells examines new directions in juvenile justice following the Young Offenders Act in 1994. A significant aim of this reform is more preventive in nature – to deflect first-time youth offenders with minor offenses from the formal court system through gateways or opportunities for diversion. Hence Wells looks at pre-court prevention and diversion mechanisms: police cautioning and juvenile justice teams. Then she surveys post-court diversion and treatment: priority intervention with program support for persistent repeat offenders; an intensive intervention center for those unlikely to return to the community without re-offending; an aboriginal family supervision program; and victim mediation.