The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act of 1999 directed the youth justice system to implement referral orders and youth offender panels throughout England and Wales. This Act, coupled with the Crime and Disorder Act of 1998, provides for the most sweeping changes to youth justice that has occurred in England in the last half century. As such, the authors explore the implications of the recent changes through an empirically informed and theoretically grounded 18-month study of the use of referral orders and youth offender panels. Through this study, the authors explore wider issues of youth justice policy and restorative justice principles. Chapter 1 provides an historical account of youth justice in England and Wales. Chapter 2 introduces the concept of restorative justice and details the international growth of restorative practices. Chapter 3 explores critical issues surrounding the implementation of restorative justice, including the relationship between restorative justice and punishment. Chapter 4 discusses the background and rationale for the introduction of referral orders and youth offender panels. Chapter 5 presents the findings of the research study, while chapter 6 examines the relationship between the youth courts and referral order teams. Chapter 7 describes youth offender panels and explores the ways in which they operate and how they meet restorative justice ideals. Chapter 8 explores the content and nature of youth offender contracts and how they are implemented in youth court. Chapter 9 explores issues involving the use of community panel members in youth court cases, while chapter 10 examines the experiences of the young people and their parents who were the subjects of a referral order. Chapter 11 similarly explores the experiences of the victims of crime whose cases had been the subject of a referral order. Finally, chapter 12 analyzes the key issues raised by the study, including how wider policy issues may shape the implementation of referral orders and youth offender panels. Index