Te Ao Mārama: New justice approach in district courts, but will Budget 2022's $47.4m make a difference?

Te Ao Mārama is a new approach in district courts that hopes to put a stop to the never-ending cycle of offending that sees people constantly returning to prison. Photo / Michael Craig

It's been 18 months since a "transformational" new way of doing things - Te Ao Mārama - in the District Court was launched. Now with $47.4m to support it from Budget 2022, Derek Cheng looks at what has the potential to help hundreds of thousands of people. But will it?

When Chief District Court Judge Heemi Taumaunu expanded on his vision for Te Ao Mārama for the Herald last year, he didn't have any specific backing from the Government.

He didn't need it, as it's a judicially led initiative, but there's no doubt it would be a huge help in transforming how the District Court operates, which would ideally include vast resources at every judges' fingertips.

"Without the funding, we would have done what we could with limited resources," Taumaunu told the Herald in an exclusive interview.

"It's exciting that there's been a financial commitment to support the new direction."

He's referring to the $47.4 million over four years announced in Budget 2022 for the kaupapa, though it's still unclear how that will be allocated, what success means, and how that will be measured.

In four years' time, though, the hundreds of thousands of people who are affected by the courts' business should know whether Te Ao Mārama is making a difference on the ground, including whether there are fewer people reoffending, and fewer victims traumatised.

Taumaunu hopes that, by then, people in court will feel heard and properly represented, and that justice will not only be served, but be seen to be served. This would contrast to what happens now, according to several justice reports dating back four decades.

Whether that will transpire, however, remains to be seen, especially in light of the lack of certain support services - for addiction and mental health, for example - across the country.

What is Te Ao Mārama?

A recap: The District Court deals with 210,000 matters a year, but for decades those passing through its jurisdiction have felt unheard and alienated by the process.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, Te Ao Mārama is about ensuring meaningful participation - whether you're a victim, offender, whanau or community stakeholders - and in doing so finding the best way to address the drivers of offending.

The nuts and bolts of that is to bring what happens in specialist courts - "alternative pathways", Taumaunu says - into the mainstream.

There are many types of these courts including Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Courts (AODT), Rangatahi and Pasifika Youth Courts, Young Adult List Courts, and the Sexual Violence Pilot Court.

Judge Heemi Taumaunu, Chief District Court Judge, says support in Budget 2022 for Te Ao Mārama is "exciting". Photo / Mark Mitchell

AODTs, for example, direct offenders who have pleaded guilty or are found guilty to addiction treatment, integrating tikanga Māori into the process, and involving communities in the resolution. An evaluation found that a third of AODT Court participants reoffended within 12 months, compared with 62 per cent of comparable offenders.

Te Ao Mārama doesn't mean turning every District Court into an AODT court, as well as all other specialist courts.

"But the same principled approach and framework can still be applied," Taumaunu says.

"It's likely that a slightly less intensive approach [than in the ADOT] would be mainstreamed. I might be dealing with someone guilty of methamphetamine possession. Instead of a discharge, I could say they need to get blood-tested once a month for six months with no alcohol or drugs in the results, and if they do 100 hours community work and attend an appropriate programme, I'll grant a discharge at the end."

It's not a lighter sentence, he says, but one that matches the offence while taking into account rehabilitate efforts.

The kind of sentence also depends on who the judge is. Not all judges will impose the same sentence in the same circumstances.

"We've been doing this in the mainstream anyway, but it hasn't been systematic across the whole District Court. A significant point of the kaupapa is to make changes to the approach, and the procedures that are followed. When the procedures change, the culture of the court changes.

"We shouldn't underestimate how big a change this is. We're actually talking about a change of culture, and with it a change of practice."

What Budget 2022 funding means

As well as Te Ao Mārama funding, Taumaunu noted further Budget 2022 money for a digital case management system, legal aid, a new model for how victims are treated, and funding to reduce court delays.

"This investment by the Government confirms their commitment to increase access to justice and reduce court delays," Taumaunu says. "That all provides more room for the solutions-focused approach we are seeking to adopt and embed."

That's about all Taumaunu can say about what the money means for Te Ao Mārama. He isn't part of the Budget process, and directs questions about how it will specifically be spent, or even how the amount was decided, to the Government.

Justice Minister Kris Faafoi, as he has previously on other justice matters, refused to be interviewed.

Justice Minister Kris Faafoi has refused several interview requests on justice matters. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In general terms, Taumaunu said each court will have gaps in what interventions are available for judges to call on.

A key part of that is community, including local providers, being present in the courtroom at the right time.

"It's very important to able to put people in touch with the right people, on the spot. It always concerns me that if you let someone go and then ask them to meet up with someone two or three days later, there's a good chance it will not happen," Taumaunu says.

"You've got to strike while the iron's hot, if we're talking about family violence, for example, and having representatives from anger management groups in the court. There's a lot of vulnerability in the people we deal with, issues of traumatic brain injury, fetal alcohol syndrome, addiction issues. A lot of it is just meeting someone for the first time and feeling comfortable.

"We're going to have to really explore what we need. We need to make the connections with the community much stronger than they are at the moment, an almost seamless connection with different support networks - including iwi - represented in the court as much as possible."

Often those services are already available in the community, but have no presence in the courtroom.

Te Ao Mārama is a new approach in district courts designed to use alternative pathways, where suitable, to address the drivers of offending. Photo / Alex Burton

Sometimes, they're barely in the community at all. The shortage of alcohol and drug counsellors and mental health support services is well known, for example, and while the Government is trying to fill those voids, it's debatable whether much has changed on the ground since the $1.9 billion mental health package in Budget 2019.

Corrections estimates that two-thirds of prisoners have substance abuse problems, and more than half of all crime is committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

"The average number of people convicted in the District Court is around 60,000 a year, but only about 5 per cent might be getting an alcohol and drug screening or assessment of some sort," alcohol and drug counsellor Roger Brooking told the Herald.

"The AODT courts are a fantastic innovation, but in general, the availability of alcohol and drug assessments and clinicians to assist judges is absolutely minimal. And when it comes to mental health assessments, it's even worse."

National Party justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith said the quality of information provided to judges was also important.

"What might seem like a good idea doesn't always necessarily translate into something that's useful."

He pointed to an Official Information Act response from the Justice Ministry about the 2300-odd cultural reports - costing almost $6m - provided to judges in 2021.

The ministry said: "There is no clear information available on what criteria needs to be met in order to become a cultural report writer … As such, the quality of information in these reports varies."

National Party justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith says National supports innovative approaches in the courtroom as long as they make a difference. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Goldsmith said, in general, the party supported innovation in the court system "but it has to make a difference".

"There's also a fine line between understanding the background issues facing an accused in the court, which is useful, and providing excuses for criminal actions. We should never lose sight of the need for clear accountability for criminal actions."

How will success be measured?

Te Ao Mārama was launched 18 months ago and has since been rolled out in Gisborne, where a new Young Adult List Court has been established, and Hamilton, where one will be established soon.

"It's had to start slowly," Taumaunu says. "There is a lot of work by officials just to put the processes in place, which requires coordination from different agencies."

It's also too early to gauge success, but Taumaunu already has ideas about how to do this.

One is recidivism rates, though he notes that there are several variables - including outside the courts' control - that contribute to these which would need to be accounted for.

Another is gauging people's court experiences, and whether they feel they're fairly represented. A survey of people's experience, for example, could be incorporated into the annual NZ crime and victims survey.

"There's been four decades of reports, since the 1980s, about people leaving court and feeling they haven't been heard, seen, understood," Taumaunu says.

"If that's their experience, it undermines the rule of law. There's something in that in how we measure success."

He also points to the possibility of measuring savings in terms of harm that would have otherwise happened if people hadn't taken part in alternative pathways.

It's a complex measurement, but not impossible. A recent evaluation into the Northland meth programme Te Ara Oranga, for example, cross-matched police and health data and compared those who went through the programme with meth users who did not.

The report showed the programme had led to a 34 per cent reduction in post-referral crime harm, while a cost-benefit analysis suggested a return of $3.04 to $7.14 for each dollar invested into the programme.

Justice stakeholders say alcohol and drug assessments for those appearing in court would be ideal, but there is a shortage of such services across the country. Photo / File

Taumaunu adds that the courts in Hamilton and Gisborne are, and will be, works in progress, a principle that has applied to other specialist courts.

"The Rangatahi Courts started in 2008 and the model was incrementally improved. We just kept building on the best practice. That's what I anticipate will happen with Te Ao Mārama."

By the time the four-year funding in Budget in 2022 runs dry, he says he'd like to see the model started in "several" District Courts, but wouldn't put a number on it.

By then, he'd be hoping for tangible evidence of Te Ao Mārama making a difference to the revolving crime door that so many are currently stuck in.

"These alternative pathways are, in many ways, lifelines with which people will hopefully be able to change their lives - with some help."