Respecting Legal Rights in the New Zealand Youth Justice Family Group Conference

Family group conferencing was first introduced in New Zealand in 1989, and is an increasingly popular response to offending by youth. Broadly similar models are in use in some Australian States, as well as in Europe. The youth justice family group conference is used in New Zealand principally as a diversionary measure and as a sentencing aid for youth court judges, thus delegating a large measure of power over responses to offending by young people from the state to the family and wider community. This article does not seek to revisit the potentially positive aspects of conferencing for young people as these have been addressed extensively elsewhere).Rather this article seeks to take the New Zealand youth justice family group conference as a case study to address concerns about the legal rights of young people in such conferences. In essence, it will be argued that although the conference process in New Zealand has the potential to be a restorative and culturally sensitive response to offending by young people, it remains a state process involved in criminal justice matters. Since the process is a criminal justice one it is essential that the young person's rights under national and international law are safeguarded. Three specific elements of criminal procedure where the young person's rights may be infringed are discussed. It will be further argued that safeguarding such rights does not necessarily mean that the informal nature of the conference process is compromised.