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

Abstract

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.

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

“…This study gives voice to rangatahi and whānau who have experienced communication assistance in the NZ youth justice system. Together with the authors' previous work (Howard et al, 2020a(Howard et al, , 2020c, it forms the first evaluation of communication assistance in NZ. Rangatahi and whānau spoke of communication assistance being a transformative and empowering experience that enabled them to participate meaningfully in youth justice processes.…”

“…The results of this study suggest that communication assistance could be one aspect of a more comprehensive attempt to ensuring that children’s rights are fully realised. As one of the professionals interviewed in Howard et al (2020a) suggested, . .…”

“…Previous work by the authors has looked at professionals' experiences of communication assistance in the NZ youth justice system (Howard et al, 2020a(Howard et al, , 2020c. The aim of this small qualitative study (n = 10) was to add the voices of rangatahi (young people) and their whānau (families) to this body of work.…”

Intermediaries in Chile: Facilitating the right of child victims and witnesses to participate and be heard in criminal trials

“…In New Zealand, Howard et al (2020a, 2020b, 2020c) answered the call of Cooper and Mattison (2017) for ‘more research into the role of the intermediary in jurisdictions outside England and Wales’. In the same line, the current study presents evidence about the first experiences with the intermediary system in Chile from the perspective of intermediaries, their trainers and regional coordinators of Law 21.057.…”

“…Results from interviews with stakeholders have shown that there is overwhelming support for this new position which plays a valuable role in the New Zealand justice system, puts young persons at the centre of justice, and also brings new knowledge not held by other professionals (Howard et al, 2020a). Some of the challenges that this role has faced include that there is no central training and accreditation program or policy guidance manual from the Ministry of Justice; there have been issues regarding the criteria or threshold to call for this assistance; other professionals from the justice system should also be trained to assist children and young people who need it, and that thought has to be given to how the role will work with Māori and Pacific peoples (Howard et al, 2020b).…”