International youth justice trends and approaches seminar

Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes

Youth justice in a changing international landscape: Trends, evidence and promising approaches – FINAL

Nau mai, haere mai, and welcome to the Social Impact and Research Seminar Series hosted by Oranga Tamariki, Ministry for Children. Ko Davina Jones, tōkū ingoa.

And I'll be your host for the next 90 minutes or so as we explore what the emerging insights and evidence tell us about changes and developments in the youth justice space.

Before we continue, I'd like to open with a karakia. Kia hora te marino, Kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, Hei huarahi mā tātou i te rangi nei, Aroha atu, Aroha mai, Tātou i a tātou katoa, Hui e, taiki e.

And now just a few housekeeping reminders.

We have an impressive number of attendees joining us online today. It's great to have you all with us. A reminder that we are filming this event and expect to publish the footage on our website. Please keep your cameras turned off and microphones on mute.

A big thank you to those who submitted questions in advance during registration. These have been considered and incorporated into Iain's presentation or the Q&A session where possible.

It's not too late to participate in this event. Use the Q&A function on Teams, not the chat, to submit your thoughts and questions during Iain's presentation. We'll be reviewing these for inclusion in the Q&A session, but given the large number of attendees, there undoubtedly will be many that we won't get to.

We are excited to present Dr Iain Matteson of Better Outcomes. Iain will be known to many of you through his many years of research and practice in the youth justice sector, both in Aotearoa and overseas. Iain's presentation will walk us through the many ways this sector has changed and adapted to new realities and what the evidence is pointing to as emerging and effective interventions.

I'll now hand over to you, Iain.

Many, many years experienced Davina. Mōrena, good morning everybody. Lovely to be here. Great to see so many people from across youth justice and other people who are interested in this sector.

Today I'm going to talk about evidence. I'll be largely focusing on research evidence. But as most of you will know, this area is messy, it is complex, and I'll be drawing on other forms of evidence as well and trying to join up some dots.

I grandly use the word international. There are 195 countries recognized by the United Nations. We won't be covering them all. I'll largely be looking at Anglo American countries. However, I will draw on some evidence from Europe and a couple of reports from UNICEF that included material from 120 countries. So primarily those countries that we would generally recognize as having systems similar to our own.

My session will be in four parts. I'm going to talk about context, international trends, international evidence and international enablers. And I will sprinkle through the presentation examples of either promising practice or programs or things that might be of interest to us that are actually happening elsewhere.

What I will not be telling you is that there's a banging program in Texas that you must implement tomorrow. I'm of the view that programs for other countries need to be cultivated and watered very, very carefully and aren't necessarily going to grow. It's as much to let you reflect on what's happening elsewhere and making some comparison with yourself in terms of what things are like here and maybe giving you some ideas for the future.

As a pretend academic, there will be a reference list that you can access afterwards when you access the presentation and we'll also do a short list of potential areas that any of you might want to follow up on in terms of some further reading.

So why does this matter now?

Youth justice is changing internationally and quite rapidly. Some of those changes were already under way before COVID. But in many ways the pandemic has exacerbated or revealed weaknesses that were perhaps already present.

Rightly or wrongly, I tend to think of youth justice in terms of pre-COVID and post-COVID, but it's important to recognize that this area is not settled. I think COVID has introduced some new ideas, some new challenges. Things are being tested. So we have seen some significant shifts either in total or in part.

Systems also face greater scrutiny, rightly so, and there's less tolerance for harm. New Zealand is not the only jurisdiction to have had a Royal Commission on the abuse of children in care, and there have been a number of Royal Commissions across Anglo American countries and similar mechanisms over recent years.

At the same time, governments reasonably expect results from their investments in youth justice. But as I said, this is quite a contested area between evidence, politics and public debate. They often diverge.

So let's look at some context.

COVID disrupted the whole youth justice pathway, including policing, courts, detention centres, schools, community services and family support systems. Many, if not most jurisdictions saw a sharp fall in contact. However, this did conceal some of the underlying system strains.

School disruption in particular, and reduced face-to-face support intensified concerns about adolescent mental health and wellbeing.

COVID also accelerated broader changes in adolescence itself. There's a new body of research exploring how the notion of being an adolescent has changed over the last 10 or 20 years, with many children actually taking fewer risks than previous generations.

COVID also highlighted some workplace pressures and made these more visible.

Now this table, which I’ve called earlier youth justice system approaches, reflects where different countries sat historically. This typology divided Western countries into five approaches: welfare, justice, minimal intervention, restorative justice and neocorrectionalist.

We now see mingling across these models. There is shared language, but terms don’t always mean the same thing across jurisdictions. Words like “therapeutic” and “trauma informed” are widely used, but sometimes lack depth in practice.

Youth justice evidence is mixed and fragmented. Statistics often lag 13–25 months behind reality, which limits their usefulness. In fast-moving environments, media and political narratives can fill the gaps.

Looking at international trends, fewer youths are entering the system across Anglo American and European countries. Diversion is now a major feature, and youth offending has declined over the past 10–20 years.

COVID introduced some temporary shifts, but overall trends remain downward. However, the remaining cohort is smaller and more complex, often involving trauma, neurodisability, mental health needs and substance use.

Systems are becoming more child-centred and relational, but disproportionality remains entrenched, especially for Indigenous populations. Falling numbers have not improved equity.

Youth detention has declined significantly. UNICEF estimates 67,000 fewer children in detention globally between 2018 and 2024. However, remand populations now dominate in many jurisdictions, creating instability.

Detention models are also shifting toward smaller, community-based, and more therapeutic environments. Examples include Scotland’s move away from traditional detention and Spain’s Diagrama model, which shows strong outcomes with a relational approach.

Despite progress, challenges remain, particularly in over-representation and system fragmentation.

Turning to evidence, key findings remain consistent. Diversion is highly effective. Cognitive behavioural therapy shows strong evidence when structured and targeted. Family and whānau-based interventions, like multi-systemic therapy, are critical.

Developmental and ecological approaches are increasingly supported, emphasizing the importance of early life factors, education, and community environments.

Enablers include skilled workforce capability, better system alignment, improved data, and strong leadership.

To wrap up: youth justice is still adjusting post-COVID. Fewer children are entering systems, but those who do have more complex needs. Child-centred approaches are growing, but disproportionality persists. Knowing what works is not enough – systems must be capable of delivering it consistently.

Thank you.

Thank you, Iain. That was truly fascinating and provided a lot of food for thought.

For the final part of this event, the Q&A session, we are joined by the National Manager for Youth Justice at Oranga Tamariki, Jono Brooker.

Thanks for joining us, Jono.

No worries, good to be here.

There’s been a lot of interest in this topic. One key question is about effective early intervention.

Iain noted that solutions lie in strengthening family support, education, health and early childhood services, rather than youth justice-specific programmes for young children.

Jono highlighted initiatives like Oranga Rangatahi and Fast Track Tables, which show strong results in early intervention and reducing system entry.

Discussion also covered neurodiversity, workforce capability, Indigenous perspectives, lived experience, and system reform priorities.

Key themes included the need for multidisciplinary approaches, stronger community partnerships, and meaningful inclusion of young people’s voices.

If resources were unlimited, priorities would include early intervention, alternatives to detention, workforce development, and expanded family support systems.

The session concluded with reflections on system improvement, research use, and ongoing challenges such as disproportionality and secure care practices.

Thank you all for attending. We will share slides and resources on our website. We look forward to seeing you at future sessions.

I’ll now close with a karakia:

Unuhia, unuhia, unuhia ki te uru tapu nui, Kia wātea, kia māmā, te ngākau, te tinana, te wairua i te ara tangata, koia rā e rongo whakairia ake ki runga. Kia tina! Tina! Hui e! Tāiki e!