title: What about the violent offenders?: The possibilities and problems of prison abolition in New Zealand

authors: Hoek, Katherine

subjects: Prison abolition

abstract: This thesis engages with the issues of mass incarceration and violence in the developing field of research on post-prison societies.  Rather than restating the abolitionist argument, this thesis seeks to address three key questions, all with a specific New Zealand focus.  Questions one and two broadly explore the barriers to prison abolition and what strategies, policies, and interventions are necessary for New Zealand to become a post-prison society.  The third question explores alternative approaches to violent offending in New Zealand, discounting the current system of imprisonment.  The research involved nine semi-structured qualitative interviews (six were face-to-face, two through video call, and one through audio call) with academics, advocates, and persons with relevant experience with the criminal justice system through employment, advocacy, or in a research capacity.  

Much like the previous literature, this thesis problematises the ‘place’ of prisons and the current approaches to general and violent offending.  This thesis highlights public attitudes, structural or macro-level barriers, and the absence of an abolitionist plan as significant barriers to prison abolition in New Zealand.  This thesis also found that early intervention and prevention, the establishment of a consistent and identifiable abolitionist framework, and greater use of in-community alternatives and treatments are considered integral strategies within the incremental steps required to move New Zealand towards a post-prison society.  Moreover, this thesis highlights the importance of recognising that violence is deeply contextual and should thus be a vital factor in decision making for how to respond to these forms of harmful behaviour.  Finally, demonstrated by the spectrum of perspectives, this thesis argues that those at the centre illustrate the potential for a future reformist and abolitionist collaboration, and a significant possibility for movement towards a New Zealand without prisons.

text: What about the violent offenders?: The possibilities and problems of prison abolition in New Zealand This thesis engages with the issues of mass incarceration and violence in the developing field of research on post-prison societies.  Rather than restating the abolitionist argument, this thesis seeks to address three key questions, all with a specific New Zealand focus.  Questions one and two broadly explore the barriers to prison abolition and what strategies, policies, and interventions are necessary for New Zealand to become a post-prison society.  The third question explores alternative approaches to violent offending in New Zealand, discounting the current system of imprisonment.  The research involved nine semi-structured qualitative interviews (six were face-to-face, two through video call, and one through audio call) with academics, advocates, and persons with relevant experience with the criminal justice system through employment, advocacy, or in a research capacity.  

Much like the previous literature, this thesis problematises the ‘place’ of prisons and the current approaches to general and violent offending.  This thesis highlights public attitudes, structural or macro-level barriers, and the absence of an abolitionist plan as significant barriers to prison abolition in New Zealand.  This thesis also found that early intervention and prevention, the establishment of a consistent and identifiable abolitionist framework, and greater use of in-community alternatives and treatments are considered integral strategies within the incremental steps required to move New Zealand towards a post-prison society.  Moreover, this thesis highlights the importance of recognising that violence is deeply contextual and should thus be a vital factor in decision making for how to respond to these forms of harmful behaviour.  Finally, demonstrated by the spectrum of perspectives, this thesis argues that those at the centre illustrate the potential for a future reformist and abolitionist collaboration, and a significant possibility for movement towards a New Zealand without prisons.

year: 2020

title: Hamilton Parents Centre 1957-2003: A sociological history

authors: Morgans, Blair

subjects: sociological history

abstract: This is a "sociological history" of Hamilton Parents Centre and as such presents the stories' of Hamilton Parents Centre organised both chronologically and thematically. These stories are broadly of two kinds: those represented in words and pictures in the archive materials made available to us by Hamilton Parents Centre, and those shared with us this year in individual and group interviews by (mostly) women who in the past were or at present are involved with Parents Centre (and in some instances with the Federation of New Zealand Parents Centres). This sociological history is also a case study, and we believe it is a "normal" or "typical" case'. Hamilton Parents Centre can be regarded as a single entity, one of a number of such specific entities (the other Parents Centres) and more generally one of a much larger number of entities, voluntary community-based social service and advocacy organisations . We argue that Hamilton has, over the life of Hamilton Parents Centre, been reasonably representative of New Zealand communities, of urban New Zealand which is and has for a long while been the demographically predominant New Zealand. We also take the view that Hamilton Parents Centre stands for a particular kind of organisation of great importance to the history and development of the human services sector here in New Zealand: community-based, staffed largely by volunteers (but not necessarily thereby amateurs), largely self-funded, identifying new or neglected needs, developing new services, welcoming and being assisted by appropriate professionals but not unduly beholden to them, implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) criticising the status quo-- but a too extensive description here of this sector would anticipate the stories we have to tell .

text: Hamilton Parents Centre 1957-2003: A sociological history This is a "sociological history" of Hamilton Parents Centre and as such presents the stories' of Hamilton Parents Centre organised both chronologically and thematically. These stories are broadly of two kinds: those represented in words and pictures in the archive materials made available to us by Hamilton Parents Centre, and those shared with us this year in individual and group interviews by (mostly) women who in the past were or at present are involved with Parents Centre (and in some instances with the Federation of New Zealand Parents Centres). This sociological history is also a case study, and we believe it is a "normal" or "typical" case'. Hamilton Parents Centre can be regarded as a single entity, one of a number of such specific entities (the other Parents Centres) and more generally one of a much larger number of entities, voluntary community-based social service and advocacy organisations . We argue that Hamilton has, over the life of Hamilton Parents Centre, been reasonably representative of New Zealand communities, of urban New Zealand which is and has for a long while been the demographically predominant New Zealand. We also take the view that Hamilton Parents Centre stands for a particular kind of organisation of great importance to the history and development of the human services sector here in New Zealand: community-based, staffed largely by volunteers (but not necessarily thereby amateurs), largely self-funded, identifying new or neglected needs, developing new services, welcoming and being assisted by appropriate professionals but not unduly beholden to them, implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) criticising the status quo-- but a too extensive description here of this sector would anticipate the stories we have to tell .

year: 2004

title: Re-designing the national imaginary: The development of Matariki as a contemporary festival

authors: Hardy, Ann

subjects: Aotearoa/New Zealand

abstract: This article considers the factors shaping the contemporary redevelopment in Aotearoa/ New Zealand of the indigenous commemoration of the rising of the constellation Matariki as a marker of seasonal change.  Through interviews with producers of media materials celebrating Matariki, it examines the ideological, cultural, and economic factors determining the encoding of the materials, investigating in particular the ways in which Matariki can resource a marketplace for spiritual commodities.

text: Re-designing the national imaginary: The development of Matariki as a contemporary festival This article considers the factors shaping the contemporary redevelopment in Aotearoa/ New Zealand of the indigenous commemoration of the rising of the constellation Matariki as a marker of seasonal change.  Through interviews with producers of media materials celebrating Matariki, it examines the ideological, cultural, and economic factors determining the encoding of the materials, investigating in particular the ways in which Matariki can resource a marketplace for spiritual commodities.

year: 2012