Karen Harding Lawyer: Video 1 Introduction to proposal for Community Justice Centre for Otara

"A Community Justice Model for Otara: Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Action. The case for a Community Court in Otara." by Karen Harding lawyer, Auckland New Zealand, 11 December 2011. Video dated 18 April 2017. The development internationally of new approaches to the practice of law such as therapeutic jurisprudence, holistic justice, community justice and problem-solving justice exercised through problem-solving courts using integrated service delivery systems is changing the face of traditional courts and the nature of legal practice within law firms and public defender services. Therapeutic jurisprudence is a broad tool that can be utilised to evaluate how current processes impact on court participants and communities. This paper considers how these new tools in the justice toolbox could be utilised in the New Zealand criminal law context to be applied at a community level to meet the justice and social needs of Otara in South Auckland, an area of high crime and social deprivation. The paper concludes with a vision for an Otara Community Court and Justice Centre with specialist problem-solving courtrooms to deliver justice in a more culturally appropriate and meaningful manner that engages the community and holds offenders accountable applying the principles of therapeutic jurisprudence and holistic justice providing wraparound social services for court participants and their families. The Justice Centre could then actively set out to address underlying problems that contribute to offending and to be a resource for the community to meet currently unmet legal and social needs. This vision is supplemented by expanding the Otara Community Law Centre with public defenders, collaboration with Maori service providing consortium's and developing not-for-profit private law firms to service court participants, their families and the community applying a holistic integrated approach that is whanau-centric. TABLE OF CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION page 1 II THE STATE OF THE NEW ZEALAND CRIMINAL JUSTICE page 3 A. A system under stress - page 3 B. Underlying social problems that impact on the justice sector page 5 1 The impact of substance abuse on the justice system - page 6 C. The problem of recidivism - page 6 1 High rates of imprisonment - page 7 III SOCIAL NEEDS AND CRIME IN OTARA - page 10 A. Social issues in Manukau - page 10 1 A Snapshot of Issues in Manukau - page 10 2 Issues facing Maori in Manukau - page 10 3 A brown underclass developing in New Zealand - page 11 4 Population issues in Manukau - page 12 B. Otara – issues for the future - page 13 1 Gangs and Crime in Otara - page 14 2 Otara Neighbourhood Policing Unit - page 15 3 Need to effectively deal with crime and violence in the home in Otara - page 15 4 Lessons to be learnt from the British riots- page 17 C. Overloaded Manukau District Court - page 17 IV NEW TOOLS IN THE JUSTICE TOOLBOX - page 19 A. New Jurisprudence and Approaches - page 19 V THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE - page 22 A. The Therapeutic Jurisprudence Approach To Designing Legal Processes - page 22 VI COMMUNITY JUSTICE - page 26 A. Community Prosecutions - page 26 B. Community Courts - page 26 1 The Principles of Community Justice - page 28 2 Example of a Neighbourhood Justice Centre - page 29 VII INTEGRATED LEGAL SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM - page 33 A. The Holistic Lawyer - page 33 1 Building partnerships with social service providers page -34 2 Broader range of skills required - page 34 3 A collaborative team approach within firms to achieve holistic sentencing outcomes - page 35 B. Public Defenders as Holistic Service Providers - page 36 1 Examples of Holistic Public Defence Services - page 37 2 Collaborative team approach and community outreach - page 38 C. Not-for-Profit law models - page 39 VIII CONCLUSION: A COMMUNITY JUSTICE SOLUTION FOR OTARA - page 42 A. The relevance of these new developments to New Zealand - page 42 B. The Proposed Otara Justice Centre - page 42 1 A Multi-Cultural Courthouse Experience to address cultural needs - page 43 C. Board court jurisdiction with innovative courtrooms - page 44 1 The use of new specialist courtrooms for Otara - page 46 D. An integrated services model required for the Otara Community Court - page 50 E. Servicing the legal needs of Otara – an integrated public community law centre - page 51 F. Not-for-profit private legal services for Otara residents - page 52 G. Expanding consortiums to integrate legal and social services - page 53

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