Dr Clare-Ann Fortune1, Ms Neeve Wooltorton1, Dr Ellie Rukuwai1
1Victoria University Of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Biography:
Clare-Ann Fortune (PhD, PGDipClinPsyc) is an academic in Clinical Forensic Psychology – Youth at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. She primarily teaches on the forensic and clinical psychology postgraduate programmes. Her research focuses on risk assessment, rehabilitation, and ethical issues associated with the justice system. She has previously worked in research roles in New Zealand and Ireland and as a Clinical Psychologist in a specialist youth forensic service. She has published nationally and internationally on a range of topics.
The current Aotearoa New Zealand Youth Justice System was developed to be more responsive to the needs of rangatahi/youth. However, research has demonstrated that rangatahi/youth still have a limited understanding of court proceedings. Very little research in this area has investigated Youth Justice Professionals' perspectives of rangatahi/youth participation in the Youth Court. This qualitative research involved semi-structured interviews with 14 Youth Justice Professionals working in the Youth Court throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Through Reflexive Thematic Analysis five themes were developed in relation to professionals’ perspectives and experiences in the Youth Court: Who are rangatahi? Challenges in court, Resourcing, Facilitators in court and Where to next? This presentation will highlight some of the key findings and implications for the Youth Court and Youth Justice Professionals.