Twenty Years of Restorative Justice in New Zealand
New Zealand has run its entire youth justice system in a nonadversarial manner since 1989. It provides the world’s strongest example to date of how a national juvenile system can transition to something incorporating restorative justice. It has also inspired restorative approaches in New Zealand’s adult system, resulting in less reliance on prisons and a far better deal for victims. Importantly, it supports indigenous ways of dealing with conflict and builds on the strengths of indigenous Maori people.The first full year of operation of the new youth court system for dealing with young offenders was 1990 — the year of my appointment as a youth court judge. By then, I had found my feet as a district court judge (a position to which I was appointed in 1988). I continued in this role, dealing with adult offenders, and thereby observed the two different systems in operation simultaneously. One was the English-based, adversarial system of criminal justice for people aged seventeen and over. The other was a homegrown system centered on family group conferences, which, along with youth courts, had been introduced by the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act of 1989.
The family group conference model quickly came to be seen as essentially restorative in nature, although it had not been designed with “restorative justice” in mind. Indeed that term did not circulate in New Zealand until 1993, which was after the distinctive nature of the new youth court system had been recognized. I use the term restorative justice here to mean an approach to wrongdoing that brings together those most affected by the wrong — both victims and offenders — preferably in a face-to-face meeting, to acknowledge the harm done and consider how best to redress that harm and prevent similar harm in the future. Restorative justice is not a single technique or procedure, and it has application beyond the criminal justice system. Different restorative techniques include family group conferences, adult restorative conferences, victim-offender mediation, healing circles, and a variety of other “restorative practices.” Outside the criminal justice system, restorative justice is applied in some schools, workplaces, and even in dealing with infringing trade practices.