Rangatahi Māori and Youth Justice in New Zealand

An ongoing area of major concern for Māori communities in Aotearoa New Zealand is the criminal justice system, in particular the system’s responses to rangatahi (youth) and their whānau (families). This chapter examines the early findings from the Aotearoa leg of a larger qualitative research project on Māori and Samoan experiences of youth justice. Focusing upon Māori, it discusses the theme of marginalization of rangatahi and whānau, drawn from the analysis of Māori community narratives on how they experience state justice practices. This includes concerns over tokenism and being constrained by the system, the lack of alternatives to the mainstream justice processes, and the privileging of the individual focus over the collective Māori understandings and responses. It also discusses narratives on the silencing of rangatahi and whānau voices that impacts on community experiences of the criminal justice sector.