Youth Justice Group Conferencing programs exist in every Australian jurisdiction:
The governance arrangements of these programs differ.
In some jurisdictions, convenors are departmental employees. In other jurisdictions, NGOs are licensed to deliver group conferences.
Not all jurisdictions yet provide group conferencing at each of these stages:
- diversion from court;
- sentencing support in court;
- post-sentence meetings involving all parties affected by a crime;
- pre-release planning.
However, the ACT Restorative Justice Unit does now offer group conferencing for youth AND adult matters at all these points in the justice system.
The Australian Association for Restorative Justice is committed to promoting the use of restorative processes in each of these areas of the youth justice system.
AARJ also supports high standards of practice by individual group conference convenors, and consistency of practice across programs.