CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM Road Trip

We are embarking on a road trip interviewing people about criminal justice reform in NZ for a documentary.  We will also be attending the Criminal Justice Summit in Wellington and Porirua from Aug 20-22.  we have interviews lined up with a number of people including the Minister of Justice Andrew Little, Kim Workman and others.

We started out in Hamilton on Wednesday 15th August, interviewing the leaders of the Notorious chapter of the Mongrel Mod.  I have to say that these guys are incredibly brave to open themselves up and sit down with us.  This was the 1st time they have ever been interviewed on camera.

We spent more than 2 hours with them on camera and learned a lot.

There are very common themes emerging from the group we spoke to last Saturday at the SIA Hui and talking to Mike and Larry. They all want to see some change in their life. They don’t want their children and grandchildren having to go through what they have been through. They want the dignity of being able to work and earn a decent wage to support their families.  They want to engage with authorities to find a realistic path forward but are understandably cautious and skeptical of the government’s and society’s sincerity to deal with them honestly and with dignity. They are a little encouraged by the formation of the new criminal justice reform advisory group, an initiative of the Min of Justice, Andrew Little, but cannot figure out why the advisory group is filled with academics but no one representing gangs or people that “work at the coalface”.  When they say that I immediately think of Harry Tam who has a 40-year affiliation with the Mongrel Mod but has also previously worked in government on policy for 20 years. There is a deep sense of frustration which is voiced as; “we are seen as the bloody problem but no one wants to engage us in the solution!”

I feel their pain when they say this and wonder if NZ is missing an opportunity by not engaging with them.  These guys see a very dim future.  There is currently a massive amount of new gang recruitment going on in NZ with young people.  The older generation seems willing to embrace change, and if they are not engaged then there is the danger of things getting even worse than they were in the 1970’s and 80’s.

We traveled down to Gisborne yesterday – 6.5hrs of driving, are hoping to be able to join another gang hui today, but not sure we will be able to do that.