Juvenile Justice Bulletin -- August 2001 -- Restorative Justice Conferences as an Early Response to Young Offenders


	August 2001

Restorative Justice Conferences as an Early Response to Young Offenders

Edmund F. McGarrell

Introduction

Challenges Posed by Very Young Offenders

Restorative Justice Conferencing

The Indianapolis Restorative Justice Experiment

Conclusion

Endnotes

References

NCJ 187769

This Bulletin was prepared under grant number 96–JN–FX–0007 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.

Points of view or opinions expressed in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of OJJDP or the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

A Message From OJJDP

Youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system at an early age are significantly more likely to continue offending than their older counterparts. Indeed, it is estimated that 6 out of every 10 children ages 10 to 12 referred to juvenile court will return.

The findings of OJJDP’s Study Group on Very Young Offenders confirm the significant implications of early offending. The risk of becoming a serious offender, for example, is two to three times higher for child delinquents ages 7 to 12 than for youth whose onset of delinquency is later.

Because very young offenders are more likely to reoffend and to progress to serious delinquency, effective early intervention is crucial. This Bulletin features a promising form of such early intervention: restorative justice conferencing.

Early offenders pose special challenges, but restorative justice offers unique benefits, as the Indianapolis Restorative Justice Conferencing Experiment is demonstrating. Not only does restorative justice hold youth accountable for their actions, it also affords them the opportunity to repair the harm they have caused—involving their families and victims in the process.

Those seeking to deter young offenders from further delinquency will benefit from the information provided in these pages.

Acknowledgments

Edmund F. McGarrell, Ph.D., is Director of the Crime Control Policy Center at the Hudson Institute and an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Indiana University, Bloomington. Research for the Indianapolis Restorative Justice Conferencing Experiment is supported by OJJDP and grants from the Lilly Endowment, Donner Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, and Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.

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