Guam § 5134 - Balanced Approach and Restorative Justice Goals

§ 5134. 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 non-

adversarial 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;

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(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

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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

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(3) such discussions reveal an actual or potential threat

to a participant’s safety.