Pros And Cons Of Youth Restorative Justice Conferencing

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CONCLUSION
Considering all the positives and negatives youth restorative justice conferencing has on the youth offenders, families and victims involved, the following research question needs to be answered:
Should youth restorative justice conferencing be made obligatory for offenders in Queensland?
If restorative justice conferencing is made obligatory, then the impacts conferencing would have on the family members and victims involved will not change from how they currently are. The only change that will occur, is that more family members will be able to support their children through the process. Along with this, more victims will be able to tell their stories, hear why the youth offender had offended, and receive support while finding a …show more content…

While youth offenders will still have the same positive impacts, there would be additional negative impacts that arise. As more youth offenders are obligated to attend a restorative justice conference, then there may be more young people attending who are not understanding the process or what is occurring and hence are not impacted the same way someone who understands the process would be. This means that these young people would not be receiving the positive impacts youth conferencing has. Additionally, if more youth offenders are obligated to attend a conference, then an increased number of young people would be attending with the intention, not to learn from their mistakes, but simply to avoid going to jail or receiving a sentence on their criminal record. This means the youth offenders would be attending these conferences because they must, not because they want to. All the positive cases that have been seen in youth conferencing so far, have been with youth offenders who want to attend the conference and hence, are open to participating and listening to all the parties involved. If a youth offender is attending a conference because it is obligatory, the benefits that are associated with restorative justice conferencing would be eliminated and that would make the process