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Delivering Justice for All
111 Submission received from YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki.
226 There is some tension between needing to preserve the orderly conduct of court
processes and wanting to be inclusive and flexible. There are also security
concerns. Change would need to be considered and introduced carefully. Our
proposal for a Community Court, discussed in Part 4, suggests that there should
be ongoing consultation and liaison with the community so that individual
courts can develop practices that are more responsive without detracting from
legal process. Also relevant is our proposal, for a presumption that self-
represented litigants can be assisted by lay people in some situations.
227
This issue is one aspect of the need to treat people involved in court cases with
more respect and dignity. Until there is better control of the volumes and
pressures in the proposed Community Court, it will be difficult to achieve these
kinds of changes.
Alternatives to mainstream criminal justice processes
228 Calls for greater use of restorative justice processes came up frequently in
submissions relating to Maori, ethnic minorities and victims within the court
system.
229
A strongly felt view in consultation with Maori was that diversion is not applied
to Maori as often as it might be. There was also concern that practices are
inconsistent across the country. To address shortcomings in the diversion
scheme, it was felt that police and courts should place more importance upon
creating and nurturing partnerships with iwi and urban Maori organisations.111
230
These alternative processes were seen as having the potential to be more effective
than adversarial approaches in enabling victims to come to terms with the effects
of crime, encouraging offenders to take responsibility for their offending, and
providing the opportunity to acknowledge community structures, involve family
members and incorporate cultural values and needs.
Recommendation
R28 When implementing recommendations that will improve access and support for
people coming to court, the Ministry of Justice should include consideration of
diverse needs of minority groups, including their particular concerns about:
access to useful information
provision for support people in court proceedings
alternatives to mainstream criminal justice processes.