Formation of Youth Justice Committee Explained
Posted by John Borst
on Feb 17, 2011
Bill Hovi, Chair of Dryden’s Youth Justice Committee, (YJC) provided a brief overview of what the committee is expected to accomplish and how it will accomplish its mission.
The program offers restorative justice for accused youth between the ages of 12 - 17 by bringing together youth accused of first-time, non-violent offences, their parents, the victim(s) and victims support persons with a trained volunteer facilitator for a "community justice conference". They work together to find a way that the youth can repair the harm resulting from their actions.
The YJC puts the community and those directly involved in charge of restoring justice in their community.
Case referrals generally come from two sources. Police may refer a case to a committee before a charge is laid (pre-charge) or the Crown may refer a case after a charge has been laid (post-charge).
If all parties agree to the process, the Coordinator assigns the case to a Facilitator. Facilitators are community volunteers that are trained to mediate a Community Justice Conference. At present, Bill has 18. The facilitators are neutral. They do not offer their own opinions or ideas and they do not offer input into the resolution process.
The facilitator will meet separately with victim(s) and the young person (with their parent/guardian) to discuss the details of the case.
Everyone that participates in a conference is required to sign a participation agreement. This agreement outlines the confidentiality requirements and the legal consequences of breaching that agreement.
When the youth completes the resolution agreement satisfactorily one of the following two outcomes will result. If the youth had not yet been charged with the offence, the youth will never be charged with that offence. If the youth had already been charged with the offence, the charge will be dropped and will result in no criminal record.