Conferencing as a Response to Youth Crime

Citation

Spencer F & McIvor G (2000) Conferencing as a Response to Youth Crime. In: Mair G & Tarling R (eds.) British Criminology Conference: Selected Proceedings. Volume 3. Selected Proceedings, 3. London: British Society of Criminology. http://www.britsoccrim.org/volume3/015.pdf

Abstract
There is a growing interest in the UK in approaches to offending, which are predicated upon the principals of restorative justice. Until recently, practical developments have been limited primarily to mediation and reparation schemes - usually operated by voluntary organisations as an alternative to prosecution in the adult courts - although the interests of victims are increasingly featuring on the policy agenda. More recently, however, interest has been shown in the use of family group conferences as an alternative model to, for example, the children's hearing system for responding to young people who offend. This paper considers issues presented by different models of family group conferencing in Australia and New Zealand to identify the potential benefits and limitations of adopting such an approach.