Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice Goals

and Objectives.

(a)Goal. The goal of this Chapter is to promote a balanced juvenile justice system in Guam to protect and safeguard the rights of those injured, whether it be the community or any victim of crime, to impose offender accountability for violations of law, and to equip juvenile offenders with the rehabilitation and skills needed to live responsibly and productively.

(b)Objectives. The objectives of Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice are:

(1)to resolve conflicts and disputes by means of a nonadversarial community process;

(2)to repair damage caused by criminal acts to the community in which they occur, and to address wrongs inflicted on individual victims; and

(3)to reduce the risk of an offender committing a more serious crime in the future that would require a more intensive and more costly sanction, such as incarceration.

(c)This Section shall be interpreted and construed as to effectuate the following purposes:

(1)to respond to a juvenile offender’s needs in a manner that is consistent with:

(A)prevention of repeated criminal behavior;

(B)restoration of the community and victim;

(C)protection of the public; and

(D)development of the juvenile into a productive citizen;

(2)to protect citizens from juvenile crimes; COL11/29/2022 CH. 5 FAMILY COURT ACT

(3)to hold each juvenile offender directly accountable for the offender’s conduct;

(4)to provide swift and consistent consequences for crimes committed by juveniles;

(5)to require parental or guardian participation in the juvenile justice process;

(6)to create an expectation that parents will be held responsible for the conduct and needs of their children;

(7)to ensure that victims, witnesses, parents, foster parents, guardians, juvenile offenders, and all other interested parties are treated with dignity, respect, courtesy, and sensitivity throughout all legal proceedings;

(8)to allow for the prosecuting authority to have the ability to divert juveniles from the formal juvenile justice process through informal early intervention, as warranted, and when consistent with the protection of the public;

(9)consistent with the protection of the public interest, to provide for juveniles who commit delinquent acts an early, individualized assessment and action plan for the juvenile offender, in order to prevent further criminal behavior through programs of supervision, care and rehabilitation which provide a balanced attention to the protection of the community, the imposition of accountability for offenses committed, and the development of competencies so that the juvenile will become more capable of becoming a more productive and responsible member of the community; and

(10)to review and evaluate regularly and independently the effectiveness of programs and services under this Section.

(d)The Law Revision Commission on Juvenile Justice, established by Executive Order No. 2008-14, shall develop and employ restorative justice approaches whenever feasible and responsive to specific criminal acts involving juveniles not involving serious crimes against persons or property, crimes involving criminal sexual conduct, or serious family violence. It is further the intent of I Liheslaturan Guåhan that the Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice Programs are not mandatory COL11/29/2022 CH. 5 FAMILY COURT ACT programs, and any program that is instituted which requires a victim’s participation shall be offered only to victims of a crime who voluntarily agree to participate in the Program. The Program is designed to encourage participation from the community, including victims only when they so choose, and judicial and law enforcement officials must ensure that the juvenile justice system hold all offenders accountable for damages caused to communities and victims, and ensure that programs are designed to assist in restoring offenders to the law-abiding community.

(e)When developing the procedures relating to the Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice Program, the Law Revision Commission on Juvenile Justice shall also consider including a provision or procedure relating to “Victim and Community Involvement in Sentencing”. The “Victim and Community Involvement in Sentencing” provision should include, but is not limited to, a provision that provides the following: “A Family Court Judge, when considering the disposition or sentence to be imposed against a juvenile offender whose case has been referred and court-ordered to the Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice Program, may permit the victim and the offender to submit a proposed disposition or sentence for the court’s review based upon a negotiated agreement between the victim and the offender, or between the offender and the community if there is no victim. Any negotiated agreement made by the parties shall be submitted to the assigned Family Court Judge by the facilitator or mediator handling the Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice Program. The court may, with the consent of the victim and offender, impose the proposed disposition or sentence that has been determined by the negotiated agreement if the court determines and states on the record that such proposed disposition or sentence accomplishes the goals of restoring the victim and the community, and rehabilitation of the offender.

(f)All discussions that occur within a Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice process are confidential unless:

(1)participants agree to some level of disclosure;

(2)disclosure is required by law (e.g. present child abuse); or COL11/29/2022 CH. 5 FAMILY COURT ACT

(3)such discussions reveal an actual or potential threat to a participant’s safety.