Achieving Effective Outcomes in Youth Justice is a cross-departmental research project aimed at identifying factors associated with effective outcomes in the youth justice system and assessing the extent to which the goals of the Children, Youth Persons and Their Families Act 1989 are being met.
The research confirms the importance of:
- providing early intervention
- building positive relationships in both the school and the family environment
- diverting young people from appearing in the Youth Court and keeping the severity of outcomes at the lowest level possible
- undertaking family group conferences
- responding to negative factors, e.g. alcohol and drug misuse.
The youth justice system is responding to the goals of the Act by:
- achieving accountability
- diverting criminal proceedings and avoiding institutional and custodial outcomes for young people.
Purpose
The purpose of this research was to identify factors associated with effective outcomes in the youth justice system and to assess the extent to which the goals of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 were being met. Key factors examined include: the professional practice of the co-ordinator and other and outcomes; other criminal justice events including diversionary and Youth Court experiences; the provision of services after the conference; the previous history of the young person; and their experiences after the family group conference. including resourcing, training and procedures; the family group conference process members of the youth justice team; the management practice of the CYF office,