Youth Justice Conferencing referrals
Youth Justice Conferencing is an alternative to having a matter dealt with by a court order. For a young person to be referred to a conference, they must admit to or be found guilty of the offence. There is no limit to the types of offence that can be referred to a Youth Justice Conference.
Referrals fall into the following categories.
- Diversionary referral:
- referrals can be made by a police officer, thereby diverting the young person from the traditional court process.
- Indefinite referral:
- a court can decide to refer a matter to conference as an alternative to sentencing.
- Conference before sentence referral:
- a court can also decide to refer a matter to a conference prior to sentencing a young person, and then use the young person's participation in a conference to assist them in reaching an appropriate sentence order.