scholarly journals Young People and Desistance from Crime: Perspectives from New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Craig Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Formal System ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
Desistance From Crime ◽  
Stable Employment

<p>This thesis examines the process by which young people stop, or 'desist' from, criminal offending in New Zealand. It does so by presenting insights on desistance gained from observations and interviews with young ex-offenders and those who work closely with them. In doing so, it avoids the exaggerated responses to youth crime expressed in political rhetoric and the popular media, and instead focuses on factors that are deemed most valuable in desistance by those most involved. This primary research is presented in the context of the existing literature that establishes desistance as a process influenced by the interaction of multiple variables including individual, social, and structural factors. Analysis of structural factors highlights the need for young people, especially those who experience economic marginalisation or racial discrimination, to be provided with opportunities to change. While the current New Zealand youth justice system generally does well to limit the negative impact of formal system contact for young people, it is noted that the focus on individual plans and strategies fails to adequately address social relations and structural conditions that are integral to desistance processes. The results of this study show that young desisters have mainstream aspirations for stable employment and relationships. Key factors of desistance identified in this study include the influence of 'growing up', family support and positive relationships. In other words, desistance from crime was the result of moving towards something positive in life. It is therefore argued that desistance is also more likely to be sustained with ongoing personal and social support. Rather than being passive victims of structural inequalities, or completely rational actors, this study found young desisters to be influenced by a combination of structural, social and individual factors. The ultimate recommendation is to enhance existing policy through wider strategies that address structural issues, such as poverty and unemployment, together with the development of social and cultural capital, so that desistance processes can be further encouraged in New Zealand's young offenders.</p>

scholarly journals Young People and Desistance from Crime: Perspectives from New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Craig Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Formal System ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
Desistance From Crime ◽  
Stable Employment

<p>This thesis examines the process by which young people stop, or 'desist' from, criminal offending in New Zealand. It does so by presenting insights on desistance gained from observations and interviews with young ex-offenders and those who work closely with them. In doing so, it avoids the exaggerated responses to youth crime expressed in political rhetoric and the popular media, and instead focuses on factors that are deemed most valuable in desistance by those most involved. This primary research is presented in the context of the existing literature that establishes desistance as a process influenced by the interaction of multiple variables including individual, social, and structural factors. Analysis of structural factors highlights the need for young people, especially those who experience economic marginalisation or racial discrimination, to be provided with opportunities to change. While the current New Zealand youth justice system generally does well to limit the negative impact of formal system contact for young people, it is noted that the focus on individual plans and strategies fails to adequately address social relations and structural conditions that are integral to desistance processes. The results of this study show that young desisters have mainstream aspirations for stable employment and relationships. Key factors of desistance identified in this study include the influence of 'growing up', family support and positive relationships. In other words, desistance from crime was the result of moving towards something positive in life. It is therefore argued that desistance is also more likely to be sustained with ongoing personal and social support. Rather than being passive victims of structural inequalities, or completely rational actors, this study found young desisters to be influenced by a combination of structural, social and individual factors. The ultimate recommendation is to enhance existing policy through wider strategies that address structural issues, such as poverty and unemployment, together with the development of social and cultural capital, so that desistance processes can be further encouraged in New Zealand's young offenders.</p>

scholarly journals ADAPTATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE ON THE LABOR MARKET: DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN EXPERIENCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 185-195
Author(s):  
Juliia Pidvalna ◽  
Olha Pavelkiv
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Educational Services ◽  
Professional Qualification ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Stable Employment ◽  
Large Groups

The article considers the process of adaptation of young people in the labour market. It has been determined that the main adaptation barriers for young people in the modern Ukrainian labour market are: low competitiveness; lack of the majority of young people with the necessary knowledge and skills for self-determination in the labour market, career development, negotiating with employers on employment issues; inconsistency of the professional qualification structure of youth with the needs of the economy and the available vacancies; lack of a mechanism to ensure the relationship between the labour market and the market of educational services; backwardness of personnel policy of most organizations, focused mainly on achieving current results, rather than on long-term development. It is analyzed that the successful adaptation ends, as a rule, with stable employment, adoption of laws of the labour market functioning. Violations of young people's adaptation in the labour market can have serious consequences, the main of which are chronic unemployment of large groups of young people, negative impact on socio-psychological development of young people, frustration at work as a means of personal self-realization.

scholarly journals Breaking them in? School kids in the twilight economy

1970 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald G. Sultana
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
After School ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Part Time Work

This article sets out to explore the nature and extent of the participation of young people - many of them of school-leaving age - in holiday, weekend and after-school casual part-time work It is argued that such a participation in the "twilight economy" of a segmented labour market prepares New Zealand youth for capitalist social relations of production. In conclusion, some of the implications of this study for industrial arbitrators and educators, as well as pointers for future research in this area are discussed.

‘I was flying blind a wee bit’: Professionals’ perspectives on challenges facing communication assistance in the New Zealand youth justice system

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Howard ◽  
Clare McCann ◽  
Margaret Dudley
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Communication Difficulties ◽  
Criminal Charges

Communication assistance is a form of specialist support for witnesses and defendants in justice settings who have been identified as having communication difficulties. This relatively new role in New Zealand is modelled on the role of the intermediary in England and Wales. This research provides a qualitative analysis of professionals’ perspectives (n = 28 participants) on the challenges of communication assistance for young people facing criminal charges in the New Zealand youth justice system. The findings of this study do not question whether or not communication assistance should exist, but rather how it might best function in practice. The overall implications are that more education and guidance for youth justice professionals is needed.

scholarly journals Young People’s Knowledge and Understanding of the Youth Justice System in New Zealand: A Community Sample

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Phillippa Dean
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Antisocial Behaviour ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Developmental Level ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Fitness To Stand Trial ◽  
The Impact

<p>New Zealand (NZ) has a separate youth justice system that is designed to be responsive towards the developmental needs of young people that have engaged in antisocial behaviour. It is therefore essential that young people are ‘Fit to Stand Trial’ when legal proceedings are brought against them. A young person can be found legally unfit on the basis of ‘mental impairment’, and whilst this is undefined it largely overlooks the impact a young person's developmental level may have on their engagement with court processes. No research has examined young people’s understanding of the justice system in NZ. However, international research has demonstrated that those 13 years and younger are almost exclusively found unfit to stand trial due to their developmental level, whereas those 16 years and older tend to be found fit to stand trial. The legal capabilities of those aged 14 to 15 years are difficult to predict given the extensive developmental changes occurring around that age. The current research aimed to address three research questions: 1) is there a relationship between age and fitness to stand trial, 2) is there a relationship between IQ and fitness to stand trial, and 3) how does NZ research compare to international literature. Participants aged 13 to 18 were recruited from six schools around NZ (n = 89). They were interviewed using a semi-structured interview tool that was designed for this study to assess young people’s understanding of the justice process and fitness-related abilities. A brief measure of participant IQ was also taken. It was found that fitness-related abilities, such as knowledge and understanding, were positively associated with age and IQ, such that older participants and those with higher IQ scores performed better on this semi-structured interview. Attending a high decile school, and being female was also predictive of better performance. These findings indicate that developmental level—as indicated by age and IQ—impacts young people’s understanding and participation in the justice system. Therefore, the current legislative response to young people who offend does not sufficiently recognise the impact of a young person’s developmental capabilities.</p>

Re-Forming Juvenile Justice: The New Zealand Experiment

1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALLISON MORRIS ◽  
GABRIELLE MAXWELL
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Youth Court ◽  
Family Group Conference ◽  
The Family ◽  
New Process

This article describes the system of youth justice adopted in New Zealand in 1989, which introduced a number of radical and innovative features including the involvement of young people, families, and victims in deciding how best to deal with the offending. The principle mechanism for achieving this is the family group conference, which replaces or supplements the Youth Court as the principle decision-making forum in most of the more serious cases. Research data are presented that indicate that, to a large extent, this new process is working well and may be having an impact on reconviction figures.

scholarly journals Young People’s Knowledge and Understanding of the Youth Justice System in New Zealand: A Community Sample

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Phillippa Dean
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Antisocial Behaviour ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Developmental Level ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Fitness To Stand Trial ◽  
The Impact

<p>New Zealand (NZ) has a separate youth justice system that is designed to be responsive towards the developmental needs of young people that have engaged in antisocial behaviour. It is therefore essential that young people are ‘Fit to Stand Trial’ when legal proceedings are brought against them. A young person can be found legally unfit on the basis of ‘mental impairment’, and whilst this is undefined it largely overlooks the impact a young person's developmental level may have on their engagement with court processes. No research has examined young people’s understanding of the justice system in NZ. However, international research has demonstrated that those 13 years and younger are almost exclusively found unfit to stand trial due to their developmental level, whereas those 16 years and older tend to be found fit to stand trial. The legal capabilities of those aged 14 to 15 years are difficult to predict given the extensive developmental changes occurring around that age. The current research aimed to address three research questions: 1) is there a relationship between age and fitness to stand trial, 2) is there a relationship between IQ and fitness to stand trial, and 3) how does NZ research compare to international literature. Participants aged 13 to 18 were recruited from six schools around NZ (n = 89). They were interviewed using a semi-structured interview tool that was designed for this study to assess young people’s understanding of the justice process and fitness-related abilities. A brief measure of participant IQ was also taken. It was found that fitness-related abilities, such as knowledge and understanding, were positively associated with age and IQ, such that older participants and those with higher IQ scores performed better on this semi-structured interview. Attending a high decile school, and being female was also predictive of better performance. These findings indicate that developmental level—as indicated by age and IQ—impacts young people’s understanding and participation in the justice system. Therefore, the current legislative response to young people who offend does not sufficiently recognise the impact of a young person’s developmental capabilities.</p>

‘It was like more easier’: Rangatahi (Young People) and Their whānau (Family) Talk About Communication Assistance in the New Zealand Youth Justice System

Youth Justice ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 147322542092376
Author(s):  
Kelly Howard ◽  
Clare McCann ◽  
Margaret Dudley
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Justice System ◽  
System Communication ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Communication Difficulties

This qualitative study gives voice to rangatahi (young people) and their whānau (families) (n = 10) who have experienced communication assistance in the New Zealand youth justice system. Communication assistance is a form of specialist support for witnesses and defendants who have been identified as having communication difficulties; and is modelled on the role of the intermediary in England and Wales. The findings overall suggest that communication assistance has a valuable and ongoing role to play in the NZ youth justice system, and may be one means of addressing the rights and needs of those with communication difficulties who offend.

‘It’s really good…why hasn’t it happened earlier?’ Professionals’ perspectives on the benefits of communication assistance in the New Zealand youth justice system

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Howard ◽  
Clare McCann ◽  
Margaret Dudley
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Young Person ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Communication Difficulties ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Criminal Charges

Communication assistance is a form of specialist support for witnesses and defendants in justice settings who have been identified as having communication difficulties. This new role in New Zealand is modelled on the role of the intermediary in England and Wales. To date however, there has been no published review or evaluation on how communication assistance is functioning and being viewed by professionals in practice. This study provides a qualitative analysis of professionals’ perspectives (n = 28 participants) on the benefits of communication assistance for young people facing criminal charges in the New Zealand youth justice system. The main finding is that professionals are overwhelmingly in support of this new role. Professionals considered that communication assistance helps put the young person at the centre of youth justice, brings new knowledge and a fresh perspective, and helps the system to function as it ideally should.

scholarly journals Are there lessons to be learned from the youth justice system?

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Becroft
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Youth Justice

It has been almost 20 years since the introduction of the ground-breaking Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 (CYPF Act). When introduced the act revolutionised New Zealand youth justice practices (Watt, 2003). It was responding to significant perceived problems with the existing system, including: • too many young people being brought before the courts; • too much reliance on an institutionalised, residential approach (often criminalising behaviour which was really the result of care and protection deficits); and • insufficient opportunity for family and cultural input.

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