NCJ Number
232955
Date Published
August 2010
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper examines restorative justice measures used for juveniles in each Australian State and territory.
Abstract
This preliminary paper provides an overview of the legislative and policy context of restorative justice measures for juveniles in each Australian State and territory, highlighting the diverse characteristics of current restorative practices. Further, it provides an indication of the numbers and characteristics of juveniles who are referred by police to restorative justice measures and the offense types for which they are most commonly referred. A number of key points about the application of restorative justice measures to juveniles in Australia's jurisdictions are highlighted, including that juveniles were referred to conferences primarily for property crimes and that Indigenous juveniles comprised higher proportions of those sent to court than to conferencing. This paper argues that more detailed data on the offending histories, offense types and offense seriousness of juveniles referred by police to restorative justice processes would enable a more finely-grained analysis of restorative justice for juveniles in Australia. (Published Abstract) Table and references