Aua le limatētē ina ne’i ola pala’ai fanau: Samoan youths’ views on their experience in the Pasifika Youth Court

Abstract

Aim: This modest qualitative study aims to explore the experiences of several Samoan young people during their attendance as offenders in the Pasifika Youth Court (PYC). Due to the emphasis on Pasifika culture in the PYC, this study was particularly interested in how the PYC met Pasifika young peoples’ cultural needs. Background: To the author’s knowledge, there is no research examining PYC attendees’ experiences in the court. Meanwhile, Pasifika youth are overrepresented in several crime statistics in Aotearoa New Zealand. There is much literature espousing the role of alternative approaches to youth offending, such as restorative justice and therapeutic jurisprudence, and practices in the PYC have roots in several of these ideas. Method: Five 20 year-old Samoan male participants were interviewed. Each participant had attended the PYC at either 15 or 16 years of age. Data collection was conducted using talanoa, a personable and loosely structured interview technique, where participants talked about their experiences in and around the PYC, as well as their own lives for context. Transcribed interviews were analysed using a latent thematic analysis. Results: Themes were organised into several elements of participants’ experience: Pasifika/Samoan culture in the PYC, interaction with the judge, comparisons between the PYC and Manakau Youth Court (MYC), and Genesis Youth Trust. Overall, participants responded favourably to the processes within PYC, and reported having a very different view of the PYC compared to other courts due to the inclusion of cultural elements, elder Pasifika community members, a Samoan judge, and cultural artefacts and rituals. These elements prompted participants to react with reflection and acceptance upon admonishment from the judge. Moreover, the judge’s stern words were interpreted positively and through the Samoan cultural lens, such that these words were likened by participants to similar recrimination from their own family members. The discussion examines how these perceptions of the PYC relate to some major ideas in the justice literature, and recommendations are given on how these results can inform future research and social work practice.