Group Conferencing as an Alternative to Criminal Proceedings

Abstract

Group conferencing described as a process in which any group of individuals connected and affected by some past action come together to discuss any issues that have arisen, in particular to allow for the harm suffered to be expressed with little guidance from the facilitator, is one of restorative justice practices. Although less popular than victim-offender mediation, it is developing systematically in the legal systems of Anglo-Saxon countries. Its variant called Family Group Conferences became the base of New Zealand juvenile justice system in 1989. In the states and territories of Australia and in South Africa dozens of experimental projects and then local small-scale programmes came to exist in the last twenty years. Group conferencing is reported to be an effective tool of the reduction of reoffending. The research shows the high degree of satisfaction of all participants as well as the high rate of agreements reached.