title: Young women in the youth justice system: Insights into the inner workings of New Zealand’s approach

authors: Main, Jade

abstract: Young women who engage in offending behaviour are often forgotten within the youth justice system despite identification that their pathways to offending are unique and characterised by significant challenges and trauma (Smith et al., 2020). Research and interventions often focus on the needs of young men due to their majority status among youth offenders (Braithwaite, 2023), leaving young women fighting in a system that was not designed for them. This research seeks to explore inside perspectives to examine how young women experience and interact with the youth justice system in New Zealand. Recent research has identified that young women who are offending in New Zealand have backgrounds characterised by abuse, neglect and mental health difficulties, outlining a need for further research and support to be targeted towards this group (Best et al., 2021). The aim of this study is to identify and explore the barriers and facilitators that young women face within the system, guided by Erikson’s (1950) psychosocial theory of development to determine if the current system is developmentally informed. Semi-structured interviews of 12 professionals and one young woman with lived experience of the Youth Court were conducted to explore the barriers and facilitators that young women face. The data was analysed using a reflective thematic analysis approach that identified a number of barriers, facilitators and precipitating factors for young women. The results showed that systemic factors along with significant complexities and trauma serve as barriers for young women in the system. Healthy developmental trajectories and responsive, integrated support systems were identified as facilitators for positive change in young women Additionally, precipitating factors were identified to impact young women's pathways to offending including offending as a means for survival and disruption in identity development. This research identifies and draws attention to the gender-specific needs of young women and demonstrates that adequate care is not being provided within the current youth justice system. The findings also provide a developmental framework to understand the challenges young women face in adolescence that coincide with their offending and youth justice involvement.

text: Young women in the youth justice system: Insights into the inner workings of New Zealand’s approach Young women who engage in offending behaviour are often forgotten within the youth justice system despite identification that their pathways to offending are unique and characterised by significant challenges and trauma (Smith et al., 2020). Research and interventions often focus on the needs of young men due to their majority status among youth offenders (Braithwaite, 2023), leaving young women fighting in a system that was not designed for them. This research seeks to explore inside perspectives to examine how young women experience and interact with the youth justice system in New Zealand. Recent research has identified that young women who are offending in New Zealand have backgrounds characterised by abuse, neglect and mental health difficulties, outlining a need for further research and support to be targeted towards this group (Best et al., 2021). The aim of this study is to identify and explore the barriers and facilitators that young women face within the system, guided by Erikson’s (1950) psychosocial theory of development to determine if the current system is developmentally informed. Semi-structured interviews of 12 professionals and one young woman with lived experience of the Youth Court were conducted to explore the barriers and facilitators that young women face. The data was analysed using a reflective thematic analysis approach that identified a number of barriers, facilitators and precipitating factors for young women. The results showed that systemic factors along with significant complexities and trauma serve as barriers for young women in the system. Healthy developmental trajectories and responsive, integrated support systems were identified as facilitators for positive change in young women Additionally, precipitating factors were identified to impact young women's pathways to offending including offending as a means for survival and disruption in identity development. This research identifies and draws attention to the gender-specific needs of young women and demonstrates that adequate care is not being provided within the current youth justice system. The findings also provide a developmental framework to understand the challenges young women face in adolescence that coincide with their offending and youth justice involvement.

year: 2026

title: Understanding re-victimisation through an intersectional lens

authors: Tompson, Lisa

abstract: Policy efforts based on evidence about risk for re-victimisation both protect some of the most vulnerable people in society and have a good chance of reducing crime levels overall (Farrell and Pease, 1993; Grove et al., 2012; Pease et al., 2018). While research has established that the phenomenon of re-victimisation is ubiquitous, less is known about what makes some people more vulnerable to re-victimisation than others (Hamilton and Browne, 1998; Nazaretian and Fitch, 2021). Enhanced understanding of who these people are is thus crucial for developing contemporary victim-centred crime prevention policy.
Victimology theories suggest that people at high risk of victimisation are typified by multiple overlapping and intersecting personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, class, disability status, sexual identity), rather than forming homogeneous higher-order groups (e.g., delineated by a single personal characteristic; Shoham et al, 2010; Walklate, 2012). Accordingly, in this study we examined socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity, disability status, sexual identity) of people who were re-victimised, with an emphasis on intersectionality. That is, we focused on identifying where the co-occurrence of socio-demographic characteristics intensified risk of re-victimisation.
We use re-victimisation as an umbrella term to cover:
• Poly-victimisation (i.e., >1 victimisation for different types of crime), and
• Repeat-victimisation (i.e., >1 victimisation for different types of crime) for 11 different crime types.
We therefore analysed 12 different types of re-victimisation over five waves of the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS) in the privacy- and security-protected environment of Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) with Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations. This method enabled us to position groups (i.e., combinations of characteristics) as the unit of analysis and identify where intersecting characteristics were associated with high rates of re-victimisation and isolate when particular individual characteristics were especially noteworthy.
This research makes four important contributions to the evidence base on victimisation. First, while re-victimisation experiences have been studied for a range of crime types internationally (see Farrell et al., 2005), this is the first research to do so for Aotearoa New Zealand. Second, it adds to the scant evidence base on poly-victimisation. Third, it corroborates the empirical findings from other countries that risk of re-victimisation increases cumulatively (Johnson et al., 1997), hence the need for policies and practices that get upstream of the problem and prevent re-victimisation at the earliest opportunity. Fourth, this research advances knowledge on how socio-demographic characteristics intersect to elevate risk of re-victimisation. The findings are relevant for policymakers developing victimisation prevention programmes across various organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand.

text: Understanding re-victimisation through an intersectional lens Policy efforts based on evidence about risk for re-victimisation both protect some of the most vulnerable people in society and have a good chance of reducing crime levels overall (Farrell and Pease, 1993; Grove et al., 2012; Pease et al., 2018). While research has established that the phenomenon of re-victimisation is ubiquitous, less is known about what makes some people more vulnerable to re-victimisation than others (Hamilton and Browne, 1998; Nazaretian and Fitch, 2021). Enhanced understanding of who these people are is thus crucial for developing contemporary victim-centred crime prevention policy.
Victimology theories suggest that people at high risk of victimisation are typified by multiple overlapping and intersecting personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, class, disability status, sexual identity), rather than forming homogeneous higher-order groups (e.g., delineated by a single personal characteristic; Shoham et al, 2010; Walklate, 2012). Accordingly, in this study we examined socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity, disability status, sexual identity) of people who were re-victimised, with an emphasis on intersectionality. That is, we focused on identifying where the co-occurrence of socio-demographic characteristics intensified risk of re-victimisation.
We use re-victimisation as an umbrella term to cover:
• Poly-victimisation (i.e., >1 victimisation for different types of crime), and
• Repeat-victimisation (i.e., >1 victimisation for different types of crime) for 11 different crime types.
We therefore analysed 12 different types of re-victimisation over five waves of the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS) in the privacy- and security-protected environment of Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) with Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations. This method enabled us to position groups (i.e., combinations of characteristics) as the unit of analysis and identify where intersecting characteristics were associated with high rates of re-victimisation and isolate when particular individual characteristics were especially noteworthy.
This research makes four important contributions to the evidence base on victimisation. First, while re-victimisation experiences have been studied for a range of crime types internationally (see Farrell et al., 2005), this is the first research to do so for Aotearoa New Zealand. Second, it adds to the scant evidence base on poly-victimisation. Third, it corroborates the empirical findings from other countries that risk of re-victimisation increases cumulatively (Johnson et al., 1997), hence the need for policies and practices that get upstream of the problem and prevent re-victimisation at the earliest opportunity. Fourth, this research advances knowledge on how socio-demographic characteristics intersect to elevate risk of re-victimisation. The findings are relevant for policymakers developing victimisation prevention programmes across various organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand.

year: 2024

title: Ko Te Ika-a-Māui rānei?

authors: Takurua, Nātana

abstract: Tēnei au te noho nei me te kōroiroi o whakaaro i roto i a Hinengaro. He aha rā te take kāore i mau mai ai ngā ingoa Māori tūturu, whai mana nei i te taenga mai o te Pākehā ki Aotearoa nei? Nā wai i kī ka hurihia ngā ingoa kua tapaina noatia e ngā mātua tīpuna kia noho ko te North me te South
Island?

text: Ko Te Ika-a-Māui rānei? Tēnei au te noho nei me te kōroiroi o whakaaro i roto i a Hinengaro. He aha rā te take kāore i mau mai ai ngā ingoa Māori tūturu, whai mana nei i te taenga mai o te Pākehā ki Aotearoa nei? Nā wai i kī ka hurihia ngā ingoa kua tapaina noatia e ngā mātua tīpuna kia noho ko te North me te South
Island?

year: 2009