1,720,992 research outputs found
An Exploration of The Role of Addiction in The Persistence and Desistance of Criminal Offending
No full textMost of New Zealand prisoners have been diagnosed with either a mental health or substance use disorder within their lifetime. This presents complex challenges in how to meet their needs and prevent continued marginalisation and disconnection from society. The use of diverse pūrākau (stories) of success in whānau ora (wellbeing) and stopping offending are missing from academic and public discourse that direct law and policy changes.
The aim of this research is to explore the role of addiction in the persistence and desistance of criminal offending. There is a focus within the research on key turning points, supports and interventions that played a part in the process of desistance to inform law and policy to better support reintegration following re-incarceration. I describe the theory and application of a co-production methodology directed by an indigenous Kaupapa Māori methodology and how kaumatua (Māori elders), academics and practitioners work with people with lived experience of mental health, addiction, and incarceration to create justice policy solutions.
The findings suggest that the Kaupapa Māori approach informed the co-production methodology and ensured the kawa (protocol and guidelines) gave clear direction for engagement at all levels of the research. This brought the co-production methodology to life, moving beyond theory to the practicalities of ‘doing’ with each other in a safe, ethical way for all. A strong association exists between unmet mental health and addiction needs and reoffending. Tackling cultural, health, social and justice issues requires a multi-layered approach from a range of lived experience experts to inform future policy and law reform.
Recommendations are made for changes in legislation and health policy, service provision, education, and the focus of research. Changes are required in all these areas to increase positive outcomes for people caught in the revolving door of addiction and involvement with the criminal justice system
Becoming heard : A study of the mental health and legal process that reproduces compulsory community treatment orders
No full textThis thesis is about the use of Compulsory Community Treatment Orders (CCTOs) under the Mental
Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 currently administered by area health
boards in Aotearoa New Zealand. The question I ask is, how are CCTOs reproduced? The study is a
local and in-depth inquiry. It involves interviews with 21 participants represented in the CCTO mental
health law process as service-users, psychiatrists, nurses, judges, lawyers, district inspectors and
institutional advisor roles for consumer, family and Indigenous Māori interests. The study includes an
observation of a CCTO court hearing. The thesis explains and explores the practices and interaction inbetween
participants before, after and during the CCTO hearing event itself. I draw on the work
Deleuze and Guattari, and others to develop and apply a conceptual framework for the research design
and analysis. This framework enables a perspective that highlights the selection and arrangement of
different elements (people, documents, place) and the relations in-between them in the production
of CCTOs. My analysis offers an explanation how CCTOs are reproduced in a CCTO assemblage, in at
least three ways. CCTO relations are characterised by ‘having a history’, ‘enabling conversations’ and
‘being heard’. These ideas are shown to have multiple meanings, and dominant meanings generate
practices that serve the reproduction of CCTOs. A notion of ‘becoming-heard’ is offered as a way to
re-conceptualise CCTO relations. Becoming-heard is a critique of the existing system that serves to
reproduce CCTOs and emphasises un-actualised potential for service-users and other participants in
these relations. Becoming-heard is creative; suggestive of the potential that exists in the dynamic
process of living that includes becoming well. I explore a critical and creative approach to problematic
CCTO use. The results contribute to existing research that highlights concerns about human rights and
discrimination, and contested evidence of CCTO clinical effectiveness and social benefit. The study
provides an example of how a relational-ontological perspective can be applied in mental health law
settings. This thesis has implications for practices within the existing mental health and law system.
There are future policy implications for re-imagining the role of law in mental health
Examining How Police Respond to People Experiencing Mental Distress in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textThis thesis joins a growing body of research interrogating the role of police as default responders to people experiencing mental distress. There has been little research into how interactions between police and people experiencing mental distress occur in Aotearoa New Zealand and how the preventative operating model of the New Zealand Police is interpreted by police officers in this context.
Two bodies of data informed this research. The first was generated through interviews with four people who had lived experience of interacting with the police while in mental distress. The second was generated through an ethnographic case study of policing (including ride-alongs, focus groups, and interviews) in Christchurch, a city that has experienced multiple unprecedented traumatic events. Frontline officers and officers working on specialist teams were included.
The findings informed by people with lived experience were analysed inductively. This led to the identification of nine domains in the data: ‘threats, coercion, and force’, ‘intimidation and fear’, ‘demeanour of the police’, ‘involuntary contact with the mental health system’, ‘support’, ‘information’, ‘who you interact with and who you are’, ‘loss of faith in the police’, and ‘envisaging improvements’. These domains predominantly spoke to traumatic and negative experiences with the police. One participant had positive experiences with the police, however, she reflected that this may have been due to her privilege.
The findings informed by the case study of policing were analysed using thematic analysis. This led to the development of one overarching theme: tension. Conceptually, tension centred around participants’ and others’ mismatched expectations about the role of police (in responding to people experiencing mental distress and more broadly). Four types of expectations were discussed by participants: participants’ expectations about the role of police, participants’ expectations of health services, the organisation’s expectations of officers on the ground, and the public’s expectations of the police. Additionally, tension arose from conflicting views among participants. Tension also referred to the challenges that officers experienced in their day-to-day work responding to people experiencing mental distress. The challenges discussed by participants were a grey zone created by legislation, their training, features of the New Zealand Police organisation, and the post-disaster context of Christchurch.
Comparing the findings from both participant groups led to a strong consensus that the role of police in responding to people experiencing mental distress needs to be reduced, for the sake of police and citizens alike. People experiencing mental distress are having traumatic experiences with the police, and police are finding themselves strained by an unbounded role. The thesis offers several ways of streamlining the role of police: through a co-response model, the development of non-police response models, and investment away from the police force and into mental well-being. Where police do remain involved in these responses, their training must reinforce ways of interacting with citizens to mitigate their distress and conceptualise this as a form of prevention
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Exploring Te Whare Whakapiki/The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court Pilot: Theory, Practice and Known Outcomes
No full textDoing ecstasy in Christchurch: Ecstasy users' experiences in relation to drug regulation strategies in New Zealand.
Full text linkThis thesis explores the relationship between ecstasy users' experiences in a variety of settings and drug regulation strategies in New Zealand. Fieldwork based, it presents the practices and knowledge utilised by a set of users 'doing ecstasy' in Christchurch. The research aims to both extend the sociological literature on ecstasy consumption and produce an analysis that could contribute to the development of harm reduction strategies in New Zealand. It accomplishes this primarily through interviews in which ten Christchurch users reflect on their experiences with ecstasy. This study is supplemented with participant observation within a number of settings in which ecstasy is consumed and quantitative analysis of forty questionnaires distributed through the social networks of those interviewed.
This study contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of sociological drug research and harm reduction policy through its exploration of three themes, production, fluidity and control. I argue that what ecstasy 'does' is neither completely socially constructed nor the direct consequence of the drugs' pharmacology. Instead, I demonstrate that experiences of ecstasy are produced and emerge as an effect of users' employment of specific practices and knowledge. From this perspective, users both 'make' and 'let' the effects of ecstasy occur. Users' practices and knowledge are seen as fluid with respect to time, space, people and place. Finally, users' strategies for controlling and managing their negative experiences of ecstasy are discussed.
This thesis demonstrates that users' experiences, practices and knowledges of ecstasy are constantly in flux, and considers the implications of this fluidity for harm reduction policy. Attention is directed towards local practices in specific settings and the relevance of locality and spatiality for drug-related harm. I conclude that harm reduction with respect to ecstasy demands a range of strategies by multiply positioned groups and individual actors. I argue that further detailed qualitative research into users' experiences of ecstasy would be beneficial in the development of harm reduction strategies in New Zealand
Constructing a defence of insanity: the role of forensic psychiatrists
No full textThis thesis explores the role of forensic psychiatrists as expert witnesses in criminal trials using the insanity defence in New Zealand. It relies on data generated through qualitative
research methods and provides thick descriptions‘ of how the role works in practice as
forensic psychiatrists, together with the instructing lawyers, construct the defence. Multiple
data sources were accessed, including thirty-one interviews with lawyers and forensic
psychiatrists, observation of a high profile criminal case, and interpretation of clinical and
legal texts. The research extends the existing medico-legal literature that has studied the
relationship between psychiatry and law and provides analysis which contributes to current
debates around the use of psychiatric expertise in cases of insanity.
Drawing on contemporary socio-legal studies, the research focuses on the hybrid nature of
the insanity defence, the hybrid expertise forensic psychiatrists‘ practise as expert witnesses,
and the symbiotic relationship between lawyers and forensic psychiatrists that occurs in this
context. This thesis argues that the insanity defence is a hybrid construct that brings lawyers
and forensic psychiatrists together in such a way that the boundaries, which should ideally
define their discrete functions, become blurred. The way the insanity defence shapes forensic
psychiatrists‘ practices, and the relationship between lawyers and forensic psychiatrists, is
also explored. The forensic psychiatrists‘ practices are shown to be inextricably linked to the
legal requirements for an expert witness and the defence of insanity. From this perspective,
the forensic psychiatrists are not ―doing psychiatry‖ as they would in a therapeutic setting,
but rather they practise a hybridised expertise that reflects the hybrid nature of the insanity
defence. The symbiotic relationship that occurs in practice as lawyers and psychiatrists make a case for insanity is demonstrated. This implicates lawyers in the production of effective expert testimony and illustrates how the defence of insanity is co-produced by both professionals in the courtroom.
This thesis highlights how the boundaries that aim to separate the responsibilities of forensic
psychiatrists, lawyers and fact-finders become blurred in practice. It contends that these
findings have significant implications for not only the continued use of forensic psychiatrists in cases of insanity, but also public understandings of madness
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
EXPLORING TE WHARE WHAKAPIKI WAIRUA/THE ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG TREATMENT COURT PILOT: THEORY, PRACTICE AND KNOWN OUTCOMES
Full text linkOn 13 June 2017, the Minister of Justice, the Hon Amy Adams, announced a three-year extension to Te Whare Whakapiki Wairua/The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court (AODT Court). The AODT Court pilot commenced in November 2012 in Waitakere and Auckland District Courts and diverts from prison people whose addiction is associated with serious offending. Participants of the AODT Court are closely supervised by the AODT Court as they undertake a rigorous treatment programme. If participants complete their treatment plan, they graduate from the AODT Court and receive an intensive supervision order. The announcement by Minister Adams suggested that although there have been positive outcomes for participants of the AODT Court, it was still too early in the pilot to get a longitudinal perspective on the efficacy of the programme
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