The Views of the Public on Youth Offenders and the New Zealand Criminal Justice System

Abstract

Public perceptions of crime and punishment have taken on increasing importance as countries grapple with how to address youth violence. The current study aimed to compare the views of those who have had personal experience of victimisation from youth offenders and those who have not, on what could be improved in managing youth offending in New Zealand. A qualitative methodology was used with data from open-ended survey responses from a nationally representative sample. Public sentiments favoured addressing systemic issues and providing rehabilitation as main emphases followed by more punitive measures, prevention, and restorative justice. Victims were over-represented on sentiments of prevention whereas non-victims were over-represented in support for more punitive measures and restorative justice. There was also considerable support for a multi-facetted approach that utilised a number of the approaches above, suggesting that the solution is as complex as the offender's circumstances. These findings are very much in line with the current goals of the youth justice system with its emphasis on diversion and rehabilitation.

Public Attitudes Toward New Prisons in New Zealand and Deficit Narratives: A Quantitative Survey

“…A number of studies have investigated public attitudes toward various facets of the criminal justice system in New Zealand. Over the past two decades, attitudes toward crime have received scholarly attention (see Bratcher, 1997; Paulin, Searle & Knaggs, 2003), as well as rural crime rates (see Buttle & Rodgers, 2014), and different types of criminal offenders such as tax evaders (see Marriott, 2017; Marriott & Sim, 2016; 2017), sex offenders (see Thakker, 2012; Willis, Malinen, & Johnston, 2013), youth offenders (Barretto, Miers, & Lambie, 2018), and drivers under the influence of drugs (Malhotra, Starkey, & Charlton, 2017). Brookman and Wiener (2017) used an online survey to investigate public perceptions toward predicting punitive attitudes to sentencing in Australia.…”

Manifest Injustice? The Judiciary as Moderator of Penal Excess in the Sentencing of Youth for Murder

“…; Piquero and Steinberg ; Roberts and Hough ). A recent study of New Zealand public opinion on how young offenders should be dealt with found that those surveyed supported rehabilitative and preventive measures for young offenders, with victims of crime having less punitive attitudes than non‐victims (Barretto, Miers and Lambie ). However, the views of the public on the appropriate response to murder by young persons is less clear.…”

“…A large body of research internationally finds public support for rehabilitation of young offenders (Nagin et al 2006;Piquero and Steinberg 2010;Roberts and Hough 2005). A recent study of New Zealand public opinion on how young offenders should be dealt with found that those surveyed supported rehabilitative and preventive measures for young offenders, with victims of crime having less punitive attitudes than non-victims (Barretto, Miers and Lambie 2016).…”

Validation of a Chinese Version of the Attitudes Toward Prisoners Scale

“…Attitudinal variables are thought to be relevant for answering some of the key questions in the criminal justice system (Barretto, Miers, & Lambie, 2018; Chui, Cheng, & Ong, 2015; Chui, Cheng, & Wong, 2013; Gottlieb, 2017; Ortet-Fabregat, Perez, & Lewis, 1993). Therefore, more emphasis has been placed on the study of attitudes toward crime and criminals in recent years.…”