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'Cocktail of disabilities': Judges to develop new model for youth offenders. The increasing number of youth offenders with disabilities going through the court system has prompted concerned judges to discuss how to better address the needs of young criminals.

'Cocktail of disabilities': Judges to develop new model for youth offenders

The move follows research suggesting that up to 75 per cent of youths involved in the justice system may have a mental disorder or disability. Chief District Court Judge Jan-Marie Doogue and the Principal Youth Court Judge John Walker announced today that they are working to address the mounting evidence of the impact of "a cocktail of disabilities" on young offenders. The changes could extend beyond the Youth Court to offenders in their early to mid 20s as well. Judge Walker told the Herald that the District Court was considering adopting a different approach to young offenders to make the system more appropriate and fair for those with disabilities.

"Judges in the Youth Court are daily confronted with a wide range of disabilities, from dyslexia, autism and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder," he said. NZ's infamous murder convictions - North & South. The convoluted and complex case of Mark Lundy, twice convicted of murdering his wife, Christine, and seven-year-old daughter, Amber, took yet another twist this year.

NZ's infamous murder convictions - North & South

Lundy, whose initial conviction was quashed by the Privy Council in 2013, was again found guilty at his retrial in 2015, but appealed this verdict in October. In the Court of Appeal, his lawyers argued scientific evidence presented to the second jury should never have been admitted; that the judge should have more clearly warned the jury not to use Lundy’s demeanour as a tool in deciding their verdict; and the Crown case that Lundy made a secret “killing trip” from Wellington to Palmerston North and back, was simply impossible because new tests show there would not have been anywhere near enough petrol. The fact that between the first and second trial, the police and Crown dramatically changed their theory of how Lundy supposedly killed his family was also focused on.

Mike White. Glendowie College Library catalog › Details for: In dark places : the confessions of Teina Pora and an ex-cop's fight for justice / Glendowie College Library catalog › Details for: Inside / 'Real-life Shawshank Redemption' prison escapee recaptured after 56 years. The Pencilsword: More prisons, more problems. Inside prison used to film Shawshank Redemption where 200 inmates died. Thousands of movie fans embark on the 'Hollywood Tour' at Ohio State Reformatory every year, but behind the glitzy facade lies a very dark history.

Inside prison used to film Shawshank Redemption where 200 inmates died

It has featured in the Harrison Ford action flick Air Force One, Tango and Cash starring James Caan and most famously, The Shawshank Redemption which earned seven Oscar nominations. But long before it became a world-famous movie set, it was considered on of America's most brutal prisons. How poetry can rehabilitate prisoners. “It’s said that to be a poet, you have to go to hell and back,” says Cristina Domenech, who teaches poetry to prisoners.

How poetry can rehabilitate prisoners

“They have plenty of hell,” she says. “Plenty of hell.” Domenech (TEDxRiodelaPlata talk: Poetry that frees the soul) runs a poetry writing workshop for the inmates at Unit 48 penitentiary in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Look where NZ is on the graph! The unintended consequences of being “tough on crime” “We’re in this exciting moment where we’ve had 40 years of being ‘tough on crime,’ and we’ve finally come to recognize that it really hasn’t worked very well,” says sociologist Alice Goffman bluntly.

Look where NZ is on the graph! The unintended consequences of being “tough on crime”

“Scientists have shown in the past few years that the relationship between incarceration and crime is basically zip. The crime rate goes up and down, incarceration just continues to grow. Can prison be a place of redemption? In 1991, Shaka Senghor shot and killed a man.

Can prison be a place of redemption?

Redemption in an American Prison. Who is worthy of redemption?

Redemption in an American Prison

Do criminals deserve a second chance? What about murderers? Shaka Senghor explores these questions through his own life experience as documented in his memoir Writing My Wrongs. At 14 years old, Mr. Senghor ran away from home to escape his abusive mother. Full of fear and paranoia, Mr. Within his first six weeks of imprisonment, Mr. But fate had other plans for Mr. Mr. Teina Pora: The true cost of injustice. Last updated 20:33, June 14 2016 There's something else Pora wants, more than the money.

Teina Pora: The true cost of injustice

An apology. What is 21 years' wrongful imprisonment worth? Dead man walking. The Unsettling Recklessness of Peter Jackson's 'West of Memphis' - The Atlantic. West of Memphis Official Trailer #1 - West Memphis 3, Peter Jackson Movie (2012) HD. Corrections Department NZ - Rehabilitation programmes. We are trying to break the cycle of re-offending by identifying and working with those who are most likely to re-offend.

Corrections Department NZ - Rehabilitation programmes

Research has shown that re-offending is not reduced simply by incarcerating offenders, or by increasing the harshness of their sentences. However, well-designed and delivered programmes can have a real effect on re-offending. What we do to rehabilitate offenders To help people address their offending we assess offenders and provide programmes according to risk, need and their ability to be responsive to the programme.

Our programmes include focuses on motivation to change, cognitive-behavioural interventions and general skills to help a prisoner return to the community – for instance parenting and practical life skills. When innocent men go to jail: miscarriages of justice in Britain. Time served: 17 years Released: 2013 Nealon spent 17 years in prison for attempted sexual assault – though police officers never carried out DNA testing on the victim’s clothing.

When innocent men go to jail: miscarriages of justice in Britain

At his trial in 1997, the court was told that no DNA evidence was available. But privately funded DNA tests discovered that the victim’s clothes had been kept sealed and untested. In fact, the garments did contain DNA samples - from a man who wasn’t Nealon. Sam Hallam Convicted: 2005. 8 People Who Were Executed and Later Found Innocent - AvvoStories. It’d be nice to think our judicial system is totally infallible, but unfortunately, that’s just not the case. Let’s stop pouring money into prisons. They don’t work. And there is an alternative. Substance abuse affects 90% of prison inmates. Why are they being fobbed off with unqualified addiction counsellors? NZers are being tortured and we don’t care – because they’re prisoners, and prisoners aren’t really human.

Yes, bed restraints were overused in some prisons. No, it wasn’t ‘torture’ ‘Inmates behave because they actually like being here’: what I learned at a Norweigan prison. E-Tangata - A Māori and Pasifika Sunday magazine. Bulletin: The trials of Teina Pora. More than 20 years after he was sent to prison, Teina Pora's convictions for the rape and murder of Susan Burdett are overturned. After 20 years in jail, Teina Pora was granted bail in March, 2014. Teen prisoners locked away for 23 hours a day. Inspectors have found the Corrections Department is locking up teenage prisoners for up to 23 hours a day in Mt Eden Prison, putting their lives at risk.

Prison inspections carried out by the Ombudsman have revealed about 70 teenagers are being held among adult prisoners and are allowed out of their cells for only about an hour a day.