Summary
Abstract
Juvenile justice policy in Australia is dominated by three assumptions so widely accepted and so rarely challenged they might fairly be described as dogmas. The first assumption is that contact with the court system increases the risk of further offending (ie, is criminogenic). The second assumption is that restorative justice ('RJ') is more effective than traditional justice in reducing the risk of further offending. And the third assumption is that, left to their own devices, most juveniles grow out of crime. In other words, juvenile involvement in crime is for the most part transient and self-limiting.