An Examination of the New Zealand Youth Justice System From Pre-Contact Maori Society to the Present Day

Abstract

This paper explores the history of the New Zealand Youth Justice system from pre-contact Maori society to the present day. It classifies the development of Youth Justice into five periods of history. Under the “period of assimilation” this paper describes Maori assimilation to British models of youth offending. Under the “period of power relationships” this essay explores the application of the philosophies of Michel Foucault to reformatories and borstals. This essay then describes the rise and fall of the “welfare approach”, resulting in major legislative overhaul and the creation of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989. The contention post 1989 is that Youth Justice in New Zealand has developed by way of “penal populism.” This paper concludes that the historical trend regarding Youth Justice is that progressive ideals have often been followed by conservative amendments that revert back to historical punitive practice as a result of changes in societal values.