Stories from the Field

Source: (2005) In,Chan, Janet B.L. editor, Reshaping Juvenile Justice. The NSW Young Offenders Act 1997 The institute of Criminology Series No 22, Sydney pp.105-115

Between early 1998 and mid 2004, youth justice conference administrators recruited and trained over800 ‘ordinary’ community people as youth justice conference convenors. Some have stayed for a short while and moved on. Others have stayed much longer. There are now almost 400 active convenors in New South Wales, many of whom have been convening for over six years. They have a wealth of stories to tell. Many of the 40,000 or so participants in the almost 8,000 conferences that have been held over this period have taken the opportunity offered to them to provide written feedback to conference administrators about their views on the way in which they were prepared for the conference. They have also commented on their experiences of, and reactions to, the processes and outcomes of the youth justice conferences in which they participated. Since Trimboli’s research, feedback from participants has continued to be largely positive. Much of the feedback indicates that the opportunity provided in a youth justice conference for those most affected by crime to make their own decisions about how to respond to the aftermath of the offence is for many a powerful and satisfying experience. Here are some of these stories from the field. (excerpt)