The profile of youth offenders has evolved over time as they present more complex risks and needs. Increasingly, community-based rehabilitation is found to be more effective in addressing the varied needs of youth offenders. As youth justice moves towards an evidence-based, best practice approach, it has become more pressing for research findings and evaluation outcomes to be shared among practitioners, policy-makers and academics. This two-day conference will examine the theories, issues and interventions around youth offending and rehabilitation.

The conference will focus on five key streams:

a. Shifting the Balance: Community-Based Approaches
This explores the various community-based approaches in various jurisdictions in the rehabilitation of youth offenders.

b. No Revolving Doors: Institutional Care and Reintegration
This provides a critical look at the different services and programmes established in the management of offenders in institutional settings, as well as the challenges in reintegrating these offenders upon their release.

c. Bridging Gaps, Keeping Ties: Partnerships in Community
This looks at participation of various segments of the community in developing innovative approaches in working with youth offenders.

d. Precisely “What Works?”: Targeted Interventions
Effective rehabilitation of youth offenders usually involves risk-specific treatment and case management, rather than a “one-size-fits-all” approach. This topic explores a variety of interventions targeted at specific risks and needs of different types of offenders.

e. The Schools of Thought: Studies of Offending
Theories abound in seeking to explain youth delinquency and offending. This topic sheds light on various models and studies of offending through empirical and theoretical studies.