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Where am I now? Lawlink > Youth Justice Advisory Committee > About Us
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About Us
Statutory role
Section 70 of the Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW) establishes a Youth Justice Advisory Committee.
This committee has the function of advising the Attorney-General and relevant Ministers and Director Generals on the following:
Regulations
Various regulations have been enacted since the commencement of the Young Offenders Act 1997. A current consolidated copy of the Act can be found at the NSW Legislation website.
Guidelines for conferences
The Young Offenders Act does not provide extensive guidelines for the conduct of youth justice conferences. These are contained in the Policy and Procedures Manual of the Youth Justice Conferencing Directorate. The Manual contains operational details of the approved guidelines for the conduct of conferences under the Act. This Manual is available on Department of Juvenile Justice website.
Conference convenors are versed in the application of these guidelines through the mandatory training program developed by the Directorate and adaptable to cultural and other factors specific to local communities and needs. The training, together with referee and police checks, is an essential prerequisite for undertaking contracted work as a convenor. An overview of this training program is available available on Department of Juvenile Justice website.
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Selection, training and appointment of convenors
The Committee has endorsed the integrated processes of selection, training, and means of appointment of convenors, developed by the Youth Justice Conferencing Directorate in consultation with other government and community agencies and individuals. The details of these processes are available available on Department of Juvenile Justice website.
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Monitoring & review of act
The Committee has developed a Code of Ethics for researchers undertaking research with the approval of the Minister through the Committee. This document covers issues such as informed participant consent, confidentiality, balance of disadvantage – benefit to participants, process of consultation, social and gender issues in research, objectivity in presentation and interpretation of research findings and the use of information for purposes other than those for which it was collected.
During 1999 the Committee commissioned Ms Nancy Hennessey, a member of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, to investigate whether the ‘gatekeeping‘ provisions of the Young Offenders Act were effective in practice in meeting the diversionary aims of the Act. Ms Hennessy investigated the use, by police and courts, of alternative processes to court proceedings under the Act, and the factors, including cultural issues, that influence the making of determinations under the Act. This report was finalised in October 1999 and released under the title “Review of the Gatekeeping Role in the Young Offenders Act“ in June 2000. This document can obtained by contacting the Legislation and Policy Division.
The Committee has worked collaboratively with the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research on their report “An Evaluation of the NSW Youth Justice Conferencing Scheme“ authored by Ms Lily Trimboli. A copy of this report is available at the NSW Attorney General’s website. The Committee strongly supported a proposal for funding for research undertaken by the Youth Justice Coalition on the experience of young people in police cautions and youth justice conferences, with a particular focus on the issue of timely access to legal advice.
In 2002, the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research published a further report comparing the times to re-offending following participation in a youth justice conference with times to re-offending following court appearances.
The full and formal review of the Act required by section 76 of the Act was undertaken in part as a three year collaborative research project between Dr Janet Chan of the School of Social Science and Policy at the University of NSW, an experienced and respected researcher in the field of policing and criminal justice, as the Principal Researcher, and industry partners the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council and the Youth Justice Conferencing Directorate of the Department of Juvenile Justice. The three year project, Reshaping Juvenile Justice, principally funded by the Australian Research Council, contributes to our understanding of how the juvenile justice system can be made more responsive to the needs of young people, their families, the victims and the community. It will also inform future reforms by identifying specific problems of legal regulation and recommending useful structures and processes for ensuring compliance. The project was fully supported and endorsed by the Youth Justice Advisory Committee.
The final report on the statutory review of the Act drew on the combined findings of Dr Chan’s research, the two Bureau of Crime Statistic and Research studies and a public consultation process undertaken by the Attorney General’s Department.
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