Restorative Justice Conferencing for Juvenile Offenders

Abstract

In recent years New Zealand has attracted a great deal of international attention for its youth justice processes. In particular, the introduction in New Zealand of Family Group Conferencing for young offenders has been hailed as a pioneering model of restorative justice. Following an outline of the philosophy and constitutive elements of restorative justice, this paper examines current restorative justice practices in New Zealand, especially Family Group Conferencing, presenting information on origins, procedures and goals and identifying a number of issues that need to be addressed in the further development of such practices.