Youth justice assessment

The values, beliefs (including spiritual), practices, significant people and places that sustain and restore the wairua of whānau and families.

Offending risk factors

DYNAMIC: behaviours that are unpredictable, that disregard rules or boundaries, showing a lack of empathy or remorse for the harm caused.

Te tamaiti, rangatahi and whānau or family feel safe, valued, listened to and respected, enabling trusting and meaningful relationships.

Offending risk factors

DYNAMIC: dysfunctional romantic relationships, anger, associating with offending peer groups.

Healthy whanaungatanga networks. Te tamaiti, rangatahi and whānau supported in building or strengthening their relationships, feel loved, and are connected to their whakapapa. Importance of collective (whānau) wellbeing to strengthen whānau resilience.

Offending risk factors

STATIC: conditions growing up.

DYNAMIC: disruptive whānau or family environments – chaotic and poor-quality family relationships or poor social expectations regarding crime and substance use, lack of boundaries, overly permissive parenting styles.

Encouraging and supporting healthy, active lifestyles. Ensuring that te tamaiti, rangatahi and whānau can access the full range of mainstream health services, rongoā Māori and alternative medicine.

Offending risk factors

STATIC: demographics.

DYNAMIC: drug and alcohol use, choosing social activities that are detrimental to their oranga.

The natural, physical and socio-economic environments in which whānau live, the systems operating within those environments, and their impacts on te tamaiti, rangatahi and whānau oranga, autonomy and participation. Advocacy for rights – addressing barriers that prevent full inclusion.

Offending risk factors

STATIC: age of first offence, chronology, summary of facts.

DYNAMIC: associating with offending peer groups, history of criminal antisocial behaviour, disengagement in education or work, negative experiences in school or work.

Understanding and supporting empowering thought patterns, memories, feelings and actions that enhance oranga. The right of te tamaiti, rangatahi and whānau to develop their individual and collective potential.

Offending risk factors

DYNAMIC: Drug and alcohol use, choosing social activities that are detrimental to their oranga, attitudes that are related to offsetting or justifying behaviours.

• Is their knowledge or lack of knowledge of their cultural identity (including their whakapapa) protective or harmful?
• What culturally restorative practices may be important and helpful to the rangatahi, their whānau or family and their victim(s)?

• What influence do peers, social media and pro or antisocial connections and activities have on the behaviour of the rangatahi?
• Does the rangatahi understand and have empathy for the victim(s) and the ongoing emotional impact of their behaviour on them?

• To what extent is the influence of whānau or family helpful or harmful to the rangatahi in addressing or reinforcing offending behaviour?
• Who are the influential or protective people within the whānau or family?
• How are we considering the impact of offending on younger siblings who may seek to emulate offending behaviour?
• How has the offending behaviour impacted members of the victim’s whānau?

• How is the physical wellbeing and safety of the rangatahi, their victim(s) and the community being impacted by the offending behaviour?
• Are factors such as alcohol and drug abuse impacting on offending?
• Does the rangatahi understand the physical harm and loss experienced by their victim(s)?

• How is the offending behaviour or the rangatahi seen in the community?
• What resources, activities and people in the community either promote or deter further offending?
• Are there social factors such as inadequate housing and lack of material resource within the household that may be contributing to offending behaviour?
• Does the rangatahi understand the impact of their offending on the wider community and on the victim(s)’ wider community?

• How does the rangatahi understand their own behaviour and actions as well as the impacts of these on others?
• Is their behaviour being influenced by unmet mental health or disability-related needs? (particularly neurodiversity)
• What is the attitude of the rangatahi to taking accountability for their actions?

• How are we balancing the wellbeing and oranga of the rangatahi, and strengthening their network of protective factors, while meeting the requirement for them to be accountable for their decisions and behaviour?
• How are we also balancing this with enabling victims of offending to experience restoration and upholding the importance of public safety?
• When offending continues despite the plans in place, how do we revisit and balance the rights of, and our obligations to rangatahi, their victims and the public?

• All tamariki/mokopuna, rangatahi and whānau have the right to have their experiences and aspirations of oranga understood and we must intentionally seek out the knowledge that helps us do so.
• Our practice is strengthened when we are clear about our knowledge bases and the evidence we draw from. Evidence tells us that largely our youth justice responses are effective – with appropriate interventions, most rangatahi stop offending relatively quickly.
• Evidence also shows that more intensive and targeted interventions are required for rangatahi who continue to reoffend or whose offending escalates in seriousness. These rangatahi often have a background of significant adverse life events, including care and protection concerns. Early, targeted and sustained intervention is important with this group.

• All tamariki/mokopuna, rangatahi and whānau have the right to consistent quality practice that is oranga focused, supported by the mana-enhancing paradigm for practice and applied through practice models.
• Practice models promote theories and principles and show how to put these into practice. They guide decision-making.

All tamariki/mokopuna, rangatahi and whānau are entitled to intentional and skilful practice.

Our practice must be skilful, appropriate, current and continuously developing and improving. We look to whai pūkenga and draw on skills, tools and resources (chronologies, Te Puna Oranga, assessment and screening tools, including the Remand Options Investigation Tool (ROIT), 14-day reviews, hui ā-whānau and All About Me plans) to develop our understanding and articulate our analysis and our recommendations.

We must actively demonstrate in the information we provide to the court how we have considered and balanced the 4 primary considerations set out in section 4A(2) of the Act whenever we are:

• providing information to the court regarding bail or remand options
• presenting family group conference plans for approval
• creating reports, plans and recommendations to the court for sentencing and outcomes.

Using knowledge called out in whai mātauranga and our youth justice tools, our assessment of rangatahi and their whānau or family considers a range of factors, including:

• age of first offending
• severity and frequency of offending (for example, is it increasing or escalating rapidly?)
• history with Oranga Tamariki, including exposure to family violence and care or protection concerns
• previous absconding from custody
• previous interventions and the effectiveness (or not) of these
• any violence towards others while in custody
• the views and attitudes of the rangatahi regarding their offending.

We must record our rationale for any decision or action, including how we are considering the domains of oranga and the 4 primary considerations of section 4A(2) of the Oranga Tamariki Act.

• Are we clearly articulating and recording the rationale and evidence base for the options and recommendations being put forward?
• Are we providing clear advice to the court about options regarding bail or remand and the extent to which they do or do not respond to the 4 primary considerations of section 4A(2) of the Oranga Tamariki Act?
• Are we reassessing and considering alternatives where there are patterns of escalating behaviour – for example, new offending while on bail, on a plan or under an order?
• Are we clear about when it is appropriate to support a recommendation for detention in custody, and what the legislative grounds are for that course of action?

• All tamariki/mokopuna, rangatahi and whānau deserve the very best of us in our practice relationship with them.
• Supervision provides us with opportunity to deepen our understanding and develop appropriate options, recommendations and plans. Where offending is escalating or where we are concerned that there are risks to the rangatahi and the community, we make use of case consultation and supervision to help organise our thinking, test for bias and challenge whose rights we are preferencing to help us balance the requirements of section 4A(2).