Why should young offenders and victims participate in a Youth Justice Conference?
A Youth Justice Conference is a meeting between the people who have been directly affected by an offence. It focuses on repairing the harm caused by the offence and on restoring relationships within the family and broader community.
How does conferencing help victims and young people?
Some of the benefits of conferencing are:
- the young person is given the chance to take responsibility for their actions and learns how they have hurt other people
- the victim can speak to the young person about how the offence affected them
- the victim can suggest what the young person could do to make up for their offence
- the young person is linked to services to help them not re-offend
- the victim is linked to support services if needed
- the young person and the victims’ families and support people can participate in the conference
- in many cases, there is no criminal record for the young person for the offence.
What is an outcome plan?
An outcome plan is a set of tasks agreed to by the victim and the young person.
An outcome plan:
- includes tasks a young person can do to repair the harm caused and prevent future offending behaviour
- can include an apology, voluntary work, reparation to the victim or community, or referral to appropriate programs and services
- is a legally binding agreement.
Young people who need assistance completing their plan should contact their local Youth Justice Community Office.