Types Of Conferences
Referrals to the Youth Conference Service can come from two sources:
- conferences that are court-ordered;
- and conferences that are diversionary.
COURT-ORDERED CONFERENCES
1. Court-ordered conferences are ordered by the court where there has been a finding or admission of guilt. Although, no young person can be referred to a conference without their agreement, the aim is that most young people who commit a crime may be referred for a conference. There are exceptions to referrals, for example, in those few cases of murder there can be no referral. For other serious offences courts have the discretion whether to refer, but are expected to give reasons in open court where they decide not to refer. (Where there are less serious offences associated with the serious offence, the court’s discretion extends to all the associated offences.)
2. There is also an element of discretion where there is a history of failed conferences or where a conference has already been ordered for another offence.
3. In addition, there is a provision for a court to use the outcome of a diversionary conference held in respect of the same offence. This will enable the court, in certain circumstances, to build on the outcome of diversionary conference.
DIVERSIONARY CONFERENCES
1. Diversionary conferences are the second type of conference and are available before a case goes to court. Their development in parallel with court-based conferences is a slight departure from the recommendations of the Criminal Justice Review Group, which had envisaged them being introduces in the longer term as resources permitted. However, the system does not require resources additional to those needed for a purely court-based scheme and indeed should result in a reduction in the demands on courts.
2. The decision whether to refer to a diversionary conference is for the Public Prosecution Service who will only refer cases for conferencing where they would otherwise have instituted court proceedings. This is to guard against conferencing being used where other forms of diversion are currently being used, and would be more appropriate.
3. More significantly, diversionary conferences are available only where the young person has admitted the offence.
4. Despite the fact that diversionary conferences can only take place where there has been an admission of guilt, there is a need to ensure that the right to a fair trial is not lost. This could become an issue if, at any stage, the young person was to withdraw the admission of guilt or withdraw consent to the conferencing process, and the case had to be taken to court. In such circumstances, the fact that the child had admitted the offence would not be admissible evidence in legal proceedings nor would information that emerged during the course of the conference. Any admission that had been made outside the context of the diversionary conference (to the police during the investigation stage, for example), would be admissible in court.
