In search of legitimacy: restorative youth conferencing in Northern Ireland (original) (raw)
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International Handbook of Juvenile Justice, 2006
Though Northern Ireland is a relatively small jurisdiction within Ireland and the United Kingdom, it has its own unique system of youth justice which very recently has undergone significant transformation. A restorative justice approach to deal with young offenders and victims has been mainstreamed through a process called “youth conferencing.” This new approach offers valuable insights in terms of youth justice policy and practice to the international forum and in this chapter we explore some of its potentials and limitations.
Criminal justice reform plays a pivotal role in helping to foster reconciliation and peace-building in post-conflict societies. In the wake of their respective political transitions,both Northern Ireland and South Africa have formulated proposals for reform of their youth justice systems based upon restorative principles. This article analyses the attempts to roll out these reforms in both jurisdictions, it considers why new youth justice arrangements have largely been well received in Northern Ireland, yet have struggled to be implemented successfully in South Africa and reflects on possible lessons to be learnt in the context of post-conflict transformations.
Northern Ireland Lagal Quarterly, 2012
Criminal justice reform plays a pivotal role in helping to foster reconciliation and peace-building in post-conflict societies. In the wake of their respective political transitions, both Northern Ireland and South Africa have formulated proposals for reform of their youth justice systems based upon restorative principles. This article analyses the attempts to roll out these reforms in both jurisdictions. It considers why new youth justice arrangements have largely been well received in Northern Ireland, yet have struggled to be implemented successfully in South Africa and reflects on possible lessons to be learnt in the context of post-conflict transformations.
Restorative justice is currently subject to a lively debate among practitioners, politicians and academics, focusing on its effectiveness as a method of crime reduction, its benefits to both victims and offenders, and its effect upon procedural rights of arrestees. Most recently, the debate has extended to the development of restorative justice in post-conflict societies, aided by the high profile nature of ‘restorative’ models such as the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This paper seeks to extend the debate to include less obvious, but equally important, issues. Northern Ireland has recently passed the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, which transforms the old, adversarial system of youth justice with one based on restorative conferencing. In contrast, South Africa has no formal youth justice system; however, proposals for a ‘restorative’ child justice system contained in the Child Justice Bill (Bill 49 of 2002) are currently before parliament. By conducting a comparative analysis of Northern Ireland and South Africa, the success and potential pitfalls of each of the systems is explored by drawing on findings from research conducted in each of these jurisdictions. In doing this, a number of questions emerge from this investigation: Why has the progress of policies in this area of justice differed so drastically; Will the adoption of this alternative form of justice legitimise the youth justice system in the eyes of all groups within these jurisdictions; and, finally, Will this approach legitimise the post-conflict settlement in both jurisdictions?
Restorative Youth Conferencing: Involving Victims in Criminal Justice
Criminal Justice Matters, 64(1), 2008
The Northern Ireland youth justice system is unique within unique within Europe due to its adoption of a mainstreamed restorative justice approach, which has been integrated through a process called ‘youth conferencing’. The following provides a brief overview of this approach to youth justice and considers some recent findings from the perspective of victims who were involved in this process
Th e article describes how community restorative justice in Northern Ireland developed out of the civil confl ict. It illustrates how its valuable work has been stifl ed by the reforms to the criminal justice system arising from the Northern Irish peace process. Habermas's theory of the colonisation of the lifeworld by the system is used to explain how restorative justice tends to be marginalised or co-opted by the criminal justice system. Th e article concludes that any process of social reconstruction must focus as much on strengthening civil society as it does political reform and economic development.
Community Restorative Justice In Northern Ireland : Lessons from America Dr
2007
R:storativejustice is the new 'black' in the criminological world it is the 'in' topic. In essence, it views crime as a breakdown in relationships which require healing rather than a breach of the criminal code which requires retribution. In the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries restorative justice techniques such as victim-offender mediation, family group conferencing (where often the families of victims and offenders are involved in agreeing a settlement in response to crime), reparation and other strategies have been increasingly employed over the past decade as alternatives to or in parallel with more punishment-focused responses. This heightened interest in restorative responses to crime reflect a widespread disillusionment with the tried and failed n1.ethods of the past which have seen the prisons fill up with little discernible impact on crime rates, or indeed meeting the complex needs and requirements of victims, con1.munities and of...