Case Study
by Youth Conference Co-ordinator, John Murphy
The young person in this case study is aged 16 and from South Belfast. Along with three other people he had broke into church property, and the premises were flooded and vandalised. The young person was subsequently charged with burglary and criminal damage. He agreed in court to participate in a Youth Conference.
I met with the young person and his family on a number of occasions to discuss the offence and to encourage them to think about addressing the harm done and how the offender could make amends. The family co-operated fully in the process. I met with the victim, a clergyman representing the particular church organisation. He described how the premises had been damaged and how groups using the building had been impacted, and was prepared to meet with the young person to communicate these feelings.
In conference both parties were able to tell their stories. The young person was remorseful and regretted his decision to enter the premises without permission, and further now realised that his actions had a detrimental affect on other people. He stated that he was sorry and was prepared to make amends for his mistake by way of reparational work. The young person donated a sum of money to a charitable organisation helping to reconstruct people’s lives and homes after the Asian Tsunami. In addition he completed ten hours voluntary work with the church, cleaning polishing and painting, and supervised by the caretaker. He kept his word as given at the conference and completed all that had been asked of him.
The young person has not re-offended. He has returned to school and will shortly take up vocational training. The victim is positive about the experience, and the caretaker pleased that he was able to not only put a face to the offence, but to put closure on it by working alongside the offender. All parties involved in the Restorative Conference believed the outcomes to be fair and proportionate to the offence.
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- A Young Persons Expereince of a Youth Conference
- YJA Rap
- We're not Brazil, We're Northern Ireland
- A Day in the Life of a Youth Conference Co-ordinator
- Case Study: A Restorative Justice System for Young Offenders in Northern Ireland
- A Youth Conference Case Study
- My Experience of Youth Conferencing by a 15 year old male
- Reparation in the Community
