Family Group Conference (FGC)
Definition
A restorative justice model developed in New Zealand under the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989, in which a young offender, their family, the victim, and a police representative meet with a trained coordinator to agree a response plan. The FGC became the central mechanism of New Zealand youth justice and has been adapted in Australia, the UK, and elsewhere.
- Origin
- New Zealand, Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989
- Participants
- Young offender, family, victim, police representative, coordinator
- Model
- Restorative justice, agreed response plan
- Adopted in
- Australia, the UK, and other jurisdictions
Common questions
How does an FGC differ from a standard court hearing for a young offender?+
Instead of an adversarial process before a judge, the family, victim, and a coordinator negotiate directly to agree what the young person will do to address the harm, such as an apology, reparation, or a supervised plan, with the family taking a central decision-making role rather than a passive one.
Why did New Zealand's model become influential internationally?+
It was one of the first statutory systems to make restorative, family-led conferencing the default response to youth offending rather than an optional diversion, which gave other countries a working legislative template to adapt for their own youth justice reforms.
Related terms
- Community Sentence
- A non-custodial sentence served in the community, typically combining unpaid work requirements, supervision by a probation officer, or rehabilitative programme attendance. The...
- Diversion Programme
- A scheme that redirects an alleged offender away from formal prosecution, typically for minor or first-time offending, into an alternative process such...
- Drug Court
- A specialist court that diverts substance-dependent offenders from prosecution into supervised treatment, with the judge playing an active monitoring role. Participants who...
- Electronic Monitoring
- The use of radio-frequency ankle tags or GPS tracking devices to enforce curfews or geographic exclusion zones as a condition of bail,...
- Restorative Justice
- A process in which the victim, the offender, and relevant community members meet with a trained facilitator to discuss the harm caused,...