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Workman, Kim. The Future of Restorative Justice – Control, Co-option, and Co-operation

This paper explores the history of restorative justice in New Zealand and lays out a course for the future.

Hayes, Hennessey. Youth Justice Conferencing and Re-Offending in Queensland

Community conferencing was introduced in Queensland with proclamation of the amended Juvenile Justice Act 1992. A community conference is a meeting where young offenders, their victims and supporters come together to discuss the offence and what should be done about it. In April 1997 the Queensland Department of Justice initiated a "pilot" conferencing project in two southeast jurisdictions (Logan and Ipswich). From February to May 1998, colleagues and I (Hayes et al. 1998) evaluated the two southeast projects. Results showed that participants (ie., offenders, victims and supporters) were largely satisfied with conferencing processes and felt they had been treated fairly and with respect. In this paper I summarise findings from the first conferencing and re-offending study undertaken in Queensland. The study is grounded on data collected from young offenders conferenced from April 1997 to May 1999 (N=200). The main findings are consistent with results from similar studies in New Zealand and South Australia and show that young persons’ prior offending histories bear heavily on post-conference behaviour. Just over half (51%) of young people conferenced came to their restorative event with prior officially detected offending, and a similar proportion (56%) went on to commit a further offence. While post-conference offending did occur, median annual post-conference offending rates were nominal (one offence per year). Furthermore, in Queensland, the effect of conference features in dissuading further offending behaviour was difficult to discern largely because conferences in the Queensland context are less variable events compared to other jurisdictions. That is, levels of participant satisfaction with conference events and outcomes were very high (mid- to high-90% range) and stable across participant groups; conference size and duration were not related to post-conference outcomes. Author's Abstract.

Rosenthal, Michael J. The Palau Restorative Justice Project

This paper describes the history and implementation of conferencing in the Palau justice system. It provides a brief discussion of indigenous justice practices and how restorative justice is similar to this model.

Johns, Rowena. Young Offenders and Diversionary Options

This briefing paper is a progress report on diversion options from court for juveniles who commit criminal offenses in New South Wales (Australia), with attention to the system of cautions, warnings, and youth justice conferences available under the Young Offenders Act 1997. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Dinnen, Sinclair and Cain, Tess Newton and Jowitt, Anita and Cain, Tess Newton. A Kind of Mending: Retorative Justice in the Pacific Islands

This collection of essays grew out of the conference ‘Restorative Justice and Conflict Management in the Pacific Islands’ hosted by the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Project at Australia National University and the Law School of the University of South Pacific. The group of academics, criminal justice professionals, and community activists discusses restorative justice as a viable option for the Pacific Islands because it resonates with traditional processes and practices. This optimism is reinforced by descriptions of innovative practices used to resolve conflict situations in recent history. At the same time, several writers caution against the assumption that traditional practices or attitudes are automatically restorative.

Goddard, Michael. The Age Of Steam: Constructed Identity and Recalcitrant Youth in a Papua New Guinea Village

Michael Goddard describes the Village Court in Pari Village Port Moresby, Papua New Guine. The institution of the village court, where traditional leaders use informal processes to respond to conflicts and minor crimes, has been described as restorative. Goddard challenges this view by looking at the meanings behind certain practices in the village court at Pari. He states that in this analysis of the Pari Village Court, "I contextualise a judicial process which might be glossed as restorative in issues of comunal identity, the interpretation of tradition and the negotiation of modern sociality. I hope to show here that restorative justice cannot be analytically abstracted from its immediate social context, and that within that context it can founder on the contestability of the cultural meaning to which it is putatively adapted.

Rumsey, Alan. Tribal Warfare and Transformative Justice in the New Guinea Highlands

Rumsey describes the cycles of tribal warfare and the creation of trade relationships in the Western highlands of Papua New Guinea. After the discussion of historical practices, he talks about more recent conflicts and innovative responses to them. For Rumsey, the usual description of restorative justice is inconsistent with these practices. He opts for the term 'transformative jutsice.'

Naviti, Rita. Restorative Justice and Women in Vanuatu

Rita Naviti questions the applicability of restorative processes in male dominated societies. While agreeing that the concepts are good and may provide positive results for her country, Naviti raises concerns that the processes can be used to continue the power inequalities between gender.

Bong, Peter. Vanuatu Law, The Police, and Restorative Justice

Peter Bong describes the steps that the Vanuatu police have taken towards community policing. He outlines the processes used to involve the local community in the process. This includes consultation with traditional leaders and allowing them to work through informal settlements with parties in conflict.

Lunabek, Vincent. Restorative Programs in the Formal Justice System of Vanuatu

Vincent Lunabek, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Vanuatu, describes the use of alternative dispute resolution in the Vanuatu legal system.

Ivoro, John. Conflict Resolution in a Multi-Cultural Urban Setting in Papua New Guinea

John Ivoro describes the work of the Ivani/Saraga Dispute Settlement Committee. Ivoro and others were trained as mediators by the Peace Foundation Melanesia and used these skills to help people in their community to resolve conflicts. He descibes the processes used and the needs for variations to fit the cultural context of the different groups living in the area.

Zarriga, Ruby. Restorative Justice in Papua New Guinea: A Collaborative Effort

Zarriga discusses the link between community development and restorative justice. Important common elements between the two include: (1) self-determination; (2) fitting the community pace; (3) participation; (4) starting where people are; (5) training local leadership. Zarriga also provides examples of conflict resolution.

Moore, Peni. Rehabilitation for Change in Fiji: A Women's Initiative

Peni Moore describes the work of Women's Action for Change in Fijian prisons. The group uses drama as an educational tool. The main goal was to help offenders understand the impact of their behaviors and to help themlearn non-violent ways of dealing with conflict. The group worked to change attitudes towards domestic violence.

Vuhu, Paul. The Lakalakabulu Area Council of Chiefs in Vanuatu

The Lakalakabulu Area Council of chiefs has the goals of maintaining the safety and welfare of those living in its jurisdiction, promoting traditional values, and resolving disputes through customary process. It has been involved in resolving a range of disputes including land disagreements, family matters, and minor criminal cases.

Ratuva, Steven. Re-inventing the Cultural Wheel: Reconceptualizing Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding in Ethnicaly Divided Fiji

Ratuva discusses inter-ethnic conflict between indigenous Fijians and Indo-fijians. While the govenrment is working with a national reconcilaition program which creates more social interaction, Ratuva argues that the nation needs a process to focus on the underlying causes to the conflict. He proposes adapting the traditional Fijian veisorosorovi process to be used in the inter-ethnic context. This process is a ceremonial setting where parties in conflict come together to resolve that conflict. This includes the admission of mistakes, forgiveness, resiprocal engagement, premptive action, trust and expectations, and transforming collective relations.

Durutalo, Alumita. Informal Justice in Law and Justice Reform in the Pacific Region

Durutalo discusses the high incarceration rate of indigenous Fijians. She argues that the government needs to look to traditional justice processes in designing a solution.

Arkwright, Norman. Restorative Justice in the Solomon Islands

Arkwright discusses the sources of conflict in the Solomon Islands and the ways in which solutions proposed by the government has undermined the meaning and importance of traditional conflict resolution processes that included restitution. The government has taken the responsibility for repaying people for property lost in the conflict and has invited submissions. The result of this is an undermining of traditional conflict resolution processes. The payment of large amounts of money as compensation from the losses das changed the focus of many people from reconciliation to compensation. Arkwright outlines the disastrous effects this can have.

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. Author's Abstract.

Department of Education, Youth, and Family Services. Standards of Practice for the Provision of Family Group Conferences in the Australian Capital Territory.

This document presents standards of practice to guide family group conferences delivered through Family Services in the Australian Capital Territory. The document covers a variety of practices related to the direct provision of services. Contents of the document include the following: background to family group conferencing; definitions of a family and of family group conferencing; case work practices; an overview of the conference process; conferences for indigenous children; outcomes; post-conference responsibilities; staff training; and principles related to rights, confidentiality, and complaints.

Daly, Kathleen and Curtis-Fawley, Sarah and Bouhours, Brigitte and Curtis-Fawley, Sarah. Sexual Offence cases finalised in court, by conference, and by formal caution in South Australian for young offenders, 1995-2001, Final Report.

What drives this research is an interest in the politics of justice and innovation in justice practices. Also motivating this work is a concern with the limits of law and legal reform to effectively address certain kinds of interpersonal crime, especially sexual assault. There are only two jurisdictions in the world, South Australia and New Zealand, which routinely use conferencing to process youth accused of sexual assault. In all other jurisdictions, sexual assault has deliberately been placed off the restorative justice agenda. Sexual violence is widely understood to be ‘too sensitive’ or ‘too risky’ to be handled by conference or to be diverted from court prosecution. (excerpt)