https://www.iirp.edu/eforum-archive/virginia-conferencing-project-a-four-site-evaluation

This article summarizes an evaluation of four projects using Real Justice community conferences for juveniles in justice and education settings between October 1998 and July 1999. A total of 116 cases were referred to the projects. Of these, 45 were conferenced and 11 were pending.

The median number of days from offense to conference was just over three months. The conferences lasted for a median of 90 minutes, with an average of 3.5 hours of preparation time by the facilitators. Of the 43 participants who returned questionnaires, 100% were satisfied with the way their case was handled, 100% found the process to be fair, and almost 100% (all but one) thought the outcome was fair. In addition, 100% believed the conference was helpful, 100% thought their opinion was adequately considered, and 100% would choose to conference again.