The Wairarapa has, as do many regions, a relatively high crime rate. There are many victims of those crimes. We in the courts have a responsibility to do what we can to reduce the number of victims, to reduce the number of defendants and to reduce the number of offences.
To stop the number of people coming through the revolving door of the courts, we need to find out why the crimes are being committed and then try and address those causes. In an effort to do that, lawyers, court staff and judges have started a “problem-solving” court with community engagement in Masterton.
It targets low-level offenders, those who keep coming back to court and those who have multiple issues that need to be dealt with. We call it the Personal Individual Needs Court or PINC.
The PINC works with a lead agency; a community organisation which arranges assistance such as getting the person on to a benefit if they have no income or job, and helping them with housing. The agency can also arrange other assistance, including counselling for alcohol and drug problems, along with anger management counselling if necessary.
The court takes a team approach and sits one afternoon a month. In the preceding lunch break lawyers, Probation, Police and some of the agencies meet to discuss how the defendants are progressing.
The court adjourns the case to monitor progress and give encouragement to a defendant to meet their goals. We have had many successes but also some failures.
"Our court is part of a raft of courts that have adopted this approach within the District Court. We are following in the big footsteps of those who have gone before us”
An example of the success stories is Mr A, who suffered from bad anxiety and had several stressors in his life. He had turned to drink to cope, and one night after an argument, he lost his temper, damaged property in the house, threatened his partner and terrified their young children. This had happened many times before.
The court was able to refer Mr A to counselling for his alcohol problem and to anger management. It also connected him with a mentor, an older man, who had regularly gone through the courts himself in his youth.
The mentor encouraged Mr A to get help from a GP for his anxiety and also some counselling. As a result, his life became much more settled. He is now in fulltime employment and his family is much happier. We have not seen him in court again.
Our court is part of a raft of courts that have adopted this approach within the District Court. We are following in the big footsteps of those who have gone before us, including Wellington’s Special Circumstances Court, Auckland’s New Beginnings Court and the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court, the Youth Drug Court in Christchurch, numerous Rangatahi and Pasifika Courts within the Youth Court, and more recently the Intervention Court in Gisborne.
By focusing on and addressing the underlying causes of crime, we are making our communities safer. We are also reducing the number of future victims. It is an approach which works.
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