Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Little Book of Family Group Conferences New Zealand Style: A Hopeful Approach When Youth Cause Harm
    Little Book of Family Group Conferences New Zealand Style: A Hopeful Approach When Youth Cause Harm
    Little Book of Family Group Conferences New Zealand Style: A Hopeful Approach When Youth Cause Harm
    Ebook97 pages2 hours

    Little Book of Family Group Conferences New Zealand Style: A Hopeful Approach When Youth Cause Harm

    By Allan MacRae

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

              Family Group Conferences (FGCs) are the primary forum in New Zealand for dealing with juvenile crime as well as child welfare issues. This third volume in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series is about the juvenile justice system that is built around these conferences.           Since their introduction in New Zealand, Family Group Conferences have been adopted and adapted in many places throughout the world. They have been applied in many arenas including child welfare, school discipline, and criminal justice, both juvenile and adult. In fact, FGCs have emerged as one of the most promising models of restorative justice.           This Little Book describes the basics and rationale for this approach to juvenile justice, as well as how an FGC is conducted.           A title in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGood Books
    Release dateJan 1, 2004
    ISBN9781680992489
    Little Book of Family Group Conferences New Zealand Style: A Hopeful Approach When Youth Cause Harm

    Read more from Allan Mac Rae

    Related to Little Book of Family Group Conferences New Zealand Style

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Program Keeps More Men From Repeat Domestic Violence

      Jul 7, 2017

      A three-year study comparing domestic violence offenders who completed a new pilot program with those who completed a traditional program found that around 50 percent fewer participants reoffended and were arrested in the year after taking the new pr

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Recidivism Trap

      Mar 15, 2018

      Any discussion of criminal justice policy inevitably includes the word “recidivism.” Usually more than once. Recidivism is the reoccurrence of crime among people known to have committed crimes before. At all levels of justice, from local probation of

      2 min read

    • Article

      Show Trials For Social Workers

      Oct 28, 2021

      SOCIAL WORK IS NOT SOMETHING ONE enters into lightly. It requires commitment, intelligence, emotional strength and the zeal to do the right thing but also the humility to know that solutions will never be perfect. Social workers are the life support

      8 min read

    • Article

      WHAT SHOWING UP LOOKS LIKE: THE FOUR S’s

      Feb 14, 2020

      This is the first step toward a secure attachment, since a parent’s first job is to keep his or her kids safe. Kids need to feel and know that they’re safe. They have to believe that their parents are going to protect them – not only from physical ha

      3 min read

    • Article

      Inside The Mind Of The Mediator

      Sep 1, 2018

      Inside The Mind Of The Mediator
      3 min read

    • Article

      Not-so-smart Phone Behaviour

      Jul 6, 2021

      1 Do you look at your phone constantly when with loved ones? Are you shopping online while your child is telling you about their day? Or chatting to internet buddies while having dinner with friends? ‘Set parameters, such as keeping your phone out

      1 min read

    • Article

      Failed By The System

      Dec 3, 2021

      Failed By The System
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Connecticut Experiment

      May 8, 2018

      Leona Godfrey was sitting down to dinner at a TGI Fridays in Orange, Connecticut, in December 2013 when she glanced at a television and saw her little brother’s name on the local news. Davon Eldemire had tried to rob a small grocery store, shooting a

      13 min read

    • Article

      Cape Town’s Remarkable Prison Grannies

      Mar 10, 2023

      Why do Neva Macgregor and Jen Clampett, the sweetest of grannies from the burbs, meet up with hardened criminals in prison? Former teacher Jen attended Randfontein High and the University of Port Elizabeth. She has four children and seven grandchildr

      6 min read

    • Article

      Punishment Or Rehabilitation? Why America Locks People Up. (audio)

      Aug 31, 2020

      What is the goal of incarceration? And how do we keep human dignity at the center of our search for solutions?

      8 min read

    • Article

      For Survivors Of Priest Child Sex Abuse, What Would Real Justice Look Like?

      Sep 14, 2018

      The question overlays every detailing of the sexual abuse of children by trusted spiritual figures: How can there be justice for such a crime? We asked several of those now-grown children what, exactly, ‘justice’ would mean for them.

      11 min read

    • Article

      Brittany Higgins

      Feb 15, 2023

      Brittany Higgins
      2 min read

    • Article

      Prince of The commune

      Jun 21, 2021

      Prince of The commune
      16 min read

    • Article

      The Role Of The Church In Personal Transformation

      Aug 27, 2021

      A few years ago I was approached by the Correctional Services in our area and was asked to place a young man under my pastoral care after he had managed to pass all the Parole Board’s requirements. He gained a new opportunity to join the community on

      3 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: Spare The Handcuffs, Spoil The Child

      Jul 6, 2023

      A tiny piece of news out of Florida the other day poked me, you might say, in the rear end. The nation’s prison population — we’re number one! — expanded slightly, as did the concept of crime itself. A couple in Daytona Beach, Florida — two police of

      4 min read

    • Article

      PERSPECTIVE: “Reclaiming My Voice Has Been A Liberating Experience”

      Feb 16, 2020

      “i lost my virginity to a paedophile. There was a film he made me watch, The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie. I can still hear the line: “Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.” He would sit me in his lap like I was his little g

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Little Book of Family Group Conferences New Zealand Style

    3/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Little Book of Family Group Conferences New Zealand Style - Allan MacRae

      1.

      Introduction

      Allan: A story, but first some personal reflections

      As I reflect on the Family Group Conferences I have facilitated, I am filled with emotion. These feelings come from the suffering I have witnessed but, more importantly, from the powerful processes of healing and forgiveness I have seen take place.

      Having led over a thousand Family Group Conferences, I often find myself asking how anyone could cause such suffering for another person. As I facilitate Conferences where offenders hear the impact of their offending on victims and families, the answer becomes clear: even in attacks involving direct encounters with victims, offenders seldom realize the trauma they have inflicted. They do not grasp how difficult it is for victims to move on and to repair and reclaim their lives.

      I have come to believe in Family Group Conferences because I have witnessed offenders having to face the impact they have had on people. I have seen healing come when they acknowledge the hurt they have caused, and when they struggle to correct what they can and take responsibility for what they cannot, through some form of compensation and apology.

      The following story is about a 16-year-old boy who was charged with rape times three on the same victim, a 13-year-old girl. This story demonstrates how Conferences can deal with serious and complicated cases, and the power of practice based in principle.

      As is so often the case, the offender—I’ll call him Robert—had himself been the victim of pedophiles from the age of five. His mother would take him to meetings of pedophiles and participate in their activities. In short, this was a boy who had not experienced appropriate sexual boundaries.

      Joanne, his victim, had also been a victim previously. Having been subjected to incest, she found only one method of coping within her power. She shut down when under attack, allowing her mind to escape her body as best she could.

      Robert and Joanna both ended up living in the same home as longer-term plans were being made for their care. Before long, Robert approached Joanna in her room. When he made sexual advances, Joanna responded the only way she knew; she closed down. When he didn’t receive physical or verbal rejection, Robert returned twice more, although it was clear that he had not received any encouragement.

      When I visited Joanna to explain her rights, I did so with the support of her caregiver and social worker. After hearing her rights, Joanna said she wanted to view the Conference but not be in the same room as the offender. I arranged for the Conference to be held in one room while she watched it through a video monitor in the next room. I suggested that she may want to have a representative in the room with the offender to speak for her. Joanna proposed that her caregiver represent her in the Conference while she observed from outside with an adult woman friend and her social worker.

      The event was held over two evenings; much information was given to the Conference participants to prepare them for the many decisions they would need to make. During the meetings, Joanna sent three powerful letters from outside the room for her representative to read to the Conference participants. In the first letter she directly challenged Robert, the offender, saying that he was not taking enough responsibility for what happened. As a result, Robert apologized and took full responsibility. In the second letter she stated that she did not want Robert to lose his job so that he could pay for the self-defense lessons she wanted to take. In the third letter she expressed her concern that she not run into him while she was in the early stages of her recovery. She stated that she did not want him to come to the area where she lived and visited, including where she socialized on Friday and Saturday nights, even if he was under escort.

      The Conference worked out a plan that met all of Joanna’s requests. Robert would not lose his job, but he was not allowed to leave his place of work for any reason unless under escort. He was to be transported to and from his place of work each day. The plan required him to be under 24-hour supervision until he had completed a program for sexual offenders. All the conditions Joanna asked for, including 24-hour supervision, were to be made conditions of bail for a minimum of six months. This meant that Robert could be arrested immediately if found in breach of his bail. The plan called for Robert to be placed under the guardianship of the Director General of Social Welfare until he was 19. In turn, the police agreed that the charges could be amended to be an unlawful sexual connection, a lesser charge.

      In short, the Conference developed a plan that met the needs of the victim and placed the offender into an extended program to minimize the immediate and long-term risks to the community. The offender would be held accountable, and his legal expenses were minimized.

      On the day following the event, I phoned the caregiver to see how Joanna was coping in the aftermath. The caregiver said, "It’s absolutely amazing. When we got home last night, Joanna walked in the door and said, ‘I don’t need to wear this coat anymore.’ She slipped it off

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1