The final proposal for an alternative to the current punitive model in criminal justice is building a network of community justice centres that are based on principles of restorative justice (McElrea, 2007). This proposal emerged from the report Restorative Justice – The Long View by Judge Fred McElrea in 2007. In 1990, McElrea was appointed as a youth court judge in the first year of operation of the new youth justice system (McElrea, 2011). In addition to working in the adult district court, McElrea was able to compare the two processes from the experience and knowledge gained in the youth and adult court. At the time, restorative justice principles became paramount in shaping the way the youth court system works (McElrea, 2011). This
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This report outlines four important aspects of the youth system that can help inform a different approach to adult offenders in the criminal justice system. The aspects of diversion, comprehensive reach, family community knowledge, and alternatives to custody, feed directly in the proposal of change to the adult system by establishing community justice centres (McElrea, 2011).
Restorative justice and family group conferences are known as ‘diversionary conferences’, from the way in which they were able to divert young people away from the formal system (McElrea, 2007). These conferences are a default option for youth – aimed to bring the victim, offender, and their families together to develop a plan that can help the young offender avoid formal prosecution (McElrea, 2007). Over the last ten years, almost half of family group conferences do not follow or precede a court appearance by the young offender (McElrea, 2011). Thus, conferencing is a powerful mechanism in the diversion of courts. Other …show more content…
The expansion of the adult system will need to operate in a non-court setting (McElrea, 2007). This is what the community justice centres will provide. These centres would set in places of citizen advice bureaus to integrate community knowledge (McElrea, 2007). It will use the proven New Zealand model of restorative justice, which will be based on the expansion of diversionary conferences for the use among adults (McElrea, 2007). The essential concept is for diversion to operate on a much broader system than youth justice, and for the meetings to end with an agreed plan by the victim, the offender, and community representatives that would avoid the entire court process (McElrea, 2007). Like the youth system, there needs to be a comprehensive reach that deals with a range of offences – not limited to first offences or minor charges (McElrea, 2007). In contrast to the court systems, these centres will have no gate-keepers and the service is available for anyone to use, given that participation is voluntary (McElrea, 2007). At the same time, the centres would be linked to the formal system in which, any agreement resulting from these conferences could be enforced in court (McElrea, 2007). Furthermore, the report proposes to build complexes that link together other community support services overtime, such as victims support (McElrea, 2007). The
This report outlines four important aspects of the youth system that can help inform a different approach to adult offenders in the criminal justice system. The aspects of diversion, comprehensive reach, family community knowledge, and alternatives to custody, feed directly in the proposal of change to the adult system by establishing community justice centres (McElrea, 2011).
Restorative justice and family group conferences are known as ‘diversionary conferences’, from the way in which they were able to divert young people away from the formal system (McElrea, 2007). These conferences are a default option for youth – aimed to bring the victim, offender, and their families together to develop a plan that can help the young offender avoid formal prosecution (McElrea, 2007). Over the last ten years, almost half of family group conferences do not follow or precede a court appearance by the young offender (McElrea, 2011). Thus, conferencing is a powerful mechanism in the diversion of courts. Other …show more content…
The expansion of the adult system will need to operate in a non-court setting (McElrea, 2007). This is what the community justice centres will provide. These centres would set in places of citizen advice bureaus to integrate community knowledge (McElrea, 2007). It will use the proven New Zealand model of restorative justice, which will be based on the expansion of diversionary conferences for the use among adults (McElrea, 2007). The essential concept is for diversion to operate on a much broader system than youth justice, and for the meetings to end with an agreed plan by the victim, the offender, and community representatives that would avoid the entire court process (McElrea, 2007). Like the youth system, there needs to be a comprehensive reach that deals with a range of offences – not limited to first offences or minor charges (McElrea, 2007). In contrast to the court systems, these centres will have no gate-keepers and the service is available for anyone to use, given that participation is voluntary (McElrea, 2007). At the same time, the centres would be linked to the formal system in which, any agreement resulting from these conferences could be enforced in court (McElrea, 2007). Furthermore, the report proposes to build complexes that link together other community support services overtime, such as victims support (McElrea, 2007). The