Abstract:
Homelessness is a crucial marker of inequality and poverty and is a growing issue both internationally and in New Zealand. Social inequalities and system injustices affect health outcomes such as homelessness which significantly impacts the criminal justice sector. Through critically engaging with scholarly literature, this study aims to explore the historical, systemic, political, and broader socially constructed factors that have fractured certain groups in New Zealand. The practices of racialised policing through the criminalisation of homeless people has contributed to the soaring numbers of people incarcerated in New Zealand, particularly those from Indigenous people and minoritised groups, which is strongly reflected in the demographics of New Zealand’s current prison muster. This study explores the impact legislations such as the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act, Three Strikes Law and Bail Reform Act have had on the criminal justice sector, which have collectively contributed to increasing prison populations. A single case study of a homeless man from the ‘More than bricks and mortar: Homelessness and social reintegration’ project from 2007 is used to draw on examples of why desistance is proving to be more difficult for some people, particularly minoritised groups, than the general population. This study also looks at the current social models to address the homeless issue in New Zealand.
