Eruera,, Joseph (2025) What supports and systems propel Māori and Pasifika young people involved in the youth justice system away from or towards involvement in the youth justice system? Learning from Māori and Pasifika young men who have experience of the Youth Justice System in Victoria. Research Master thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

The over-representation of Māori and Pasifika young people in the youth justice system in Victoria generated the rationale for this thesis, which examines the systems and supports available for Māori and Pasifika young people in the Victorian youth justice system. Whakawhiti kōrero with 5 Māori and Pasifika young men aged 20 to 30 who lived in the western suburbs of Melbourne and had had some level of involvement in the youth justice system in Victoria. They were conducted in tandem with whakawhiti kōrero with 2 professionals who were experienced in working with Māori and Pasifika young people and their families in the Victorian youth justice system. The findings are situated within an account from an emic perspective of the lived experiences of Māori and Pasifika young men, their mainstream schooling and how they had been affected by other determinants such as low socio-economic status, breakdown in family relationships and substance abuse. The thesis references a lack of cultural competency within Victorian education and youth justice systems. This finding is echoed within literature from New Zealand that situates Māori and Pasifika cultural competency as being the key for support within such systems to engage with and provide positive educational and other institutional outcomes for Māori and Pasifika young people.

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