Four actual Real Justice conferences were videotaped, with the permission of participants, at alternative schools operated by the Community Service Foundation and Buxmont Academy, sister nonprofit organizations serving troubled youth in eastern Pennsylvania. Footage from the conferences, which were held for offenses ranging from truancy and leaving school grounds to drug possession and bringing a knife onto a school bus, provide viewers with a realistic view of conferencing. Some conferences are highly emotional; others are not. Some conferences produce satisfying outcomes; others are less successful. But follow-up interviews with conference participants show that even a so-called “unsuccessful” conference can produce meaningful outcomes.
