Conferencing Highlights

PROCESS:

Conferencing is an alternative justice process developed in Australia in 1989.  It is based on a tradition of the Maori people of New Zealand, and of other historical cultures whose community members sat in a circle to decide how to repair harm done to the community.

While participants sit in a circle, it is not a circle sentencing process. It is a formal meeting involving a trained facilitator, and victims and offenders who voluntarily come together with their families and supporters. Sometimes those investigating the behaviour that has caused the harm are also present. The facilitator uses a well defined and proven process that encourages both victim and offender participants to identify problems and find the solutions needed to repair harm done.

A primary goal is to cause offenders to face the impact of their behaviour on the victim, other people, themselves, their own supporters, and on the wider community. Offenders may then learn empathy and feel real regret.

Offenders are held strictly accountable for their actions. The offending behavior is condemned, not the offender.

Victim satisfaction is another primary goal of Conferencing. It recognizes the needs of the victim and the community to be heard. In Conferencing, the victim has a safe environment in which they can express their feelings and contribute to finding solutions to repair the harm.

The larger goal of conferencing is to repair the harm and reintegrate the offender into the community. When all touched by an incident are involved in making things right, healing and closure can take place.

Records show that offenders who go through Conferencing are less likely to re-offend against the same victim, and to commit the same type of offense in the community.

top