Young People – As Offenders, As Witnesses, As Victims.

Source: (2001) Article. March. District Court, Queensland Courts, Australia. Downloaded 10 August 2005.

How to respond to young people who commit offenses? Robertson recognizes an ongoing debate about this throughout the common law world. It is a debate oriented around two different philosophies of juvenile justice. Though exact terminology varies from one setting to another, Robertson designates them as the justice model on the hand and the welfare model on the other. In this paper, Robertson sketches how the Queensland juvenile justice system and courts have attempted to engage this debate and choose one model or the other. With reference to restorative justice developments in other parts of the world (notably New Zealand and Canada), and using actual case studies, he looks at approaches to young people as offenders, witnesses, and victims in the justice system and the courts of Queensland.