Locating the Community in Restorative Justice for Young People in Australia
| Author | Dr Kelly Richards |
| Pages | 7-20 |
7
LOCATING THE COMMUNITY IN RESTORATIVE
JUSTICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA
Dr Kelly Richards, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, School of Justice, Queensland University of
Technology, Brisbane
Abstract
The concept of the community is a key component of restorative justice theory and practice.
In restorative justice scholarship, the community is constructed, alongside the victim and
offender, as having a crucial role to play in responding to crimes in a re storative way. Indeed,
it is o ften claimed that the perceived need for the community to be involved in responding
to crime was a key rationale for the emergence of restorative practices around the world.
Taking the emergence of youth justice conferencing – the most commonly-utilised
restorative practice in Australia – as a case study, this article argues, however, that the idea
of the community was peripheral to the emergence of restorative justice in Australia. The
documentary analysis from which this article stems also found that while Indigenous young
people are represented as belonging to commun ities, non-Indigenous young people are not
– at least, not beyond their ‘community of care’. As such, this article raises concerns about
the disproportionate responsibilisation of Indigenous young people, families and
communities.
Keywords
Restorative justice; youth justice; history; community
British Journal of Community Justice
©2014 Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 12(2): 7-20
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