New University of Canterbury resource targets lawyers, policymakers, police
The University of Canterbury (UC) | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha has shared that Mental Health and Criminal Justice: A New Zealand guide is New Zealand’s first multidisciplinary book on mental health law and policy in the country’s criminal justice system.
Dr Marozane Spamers, a lecturer in UC’s Faculty of Law, edited and co-wrote the new resource, according to the university’s news release.
UC said the book aims to assist individuals and agencies at the intersection of mental health and criminal justice, including lawyers, policymakers, forensic experts, corrections, police, victim advocates, and citizens’ advice and mental health services.
“My vision is that if professionals working in criminal justice settings have a deep understanding of the wide-ranging impacts of mental health concerns, that will lead to better policy making and implementation,” Spamers said in the news release.
“I also believe that if criminal justice professionals become better at recognising, responding to and appropriately supporting or diverting people with mental health concerns, that will lead to better outcomes for both offenders and victims of crime,” Spamers added.
UC said the book also seeks to support a new bachelor of laws and bachelor of criminal justice course on mental health and criminal justice, which the university is offering beginning the second semester this year.
“I’m pleased that it can be downloaded by anyone, whether they are students, criminal justice professionals, the victims of crime, or the family and whānau of someone charged with a crime,” Spamers said.
Spamers expressed the hope that the book’s free accessibility would help lay people dealing with the criminal justice system.
“While there is quite complex theory in the book, we’ve really tried to write it in clear language that’s easy to understand,” Spamers said.
According to UC’s news release, the early chapters aim to:
Meanwhile, later chapters address responses to mental health in certain criminal justice system areas, including police, the criminal trial process, criminal law, expert evidence, and prisons. The chapters also look into the mental health of victims and criminal justice professionals.
In its news release, UC shared that a chapter co-written with lecturer Jessica Niurangi Maclean from the Aotahi School of Māori and Indigenous Studies stresses the necessity for a culturally competent practice.
Canterbury University Press published the new resource, supported by funding from the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation.
The book’s co-writers have backgrounds in law, criminal justice, psychology, political science, and Māori and Indigenous studies. They included Dr Bethany Growns, associate professor James Mehigan, Dr Linda Mussell, professor Robin Palmer, Dr Jayson Ware, and professor Debra Wilson.
“Mental health in Aotearoa New Zealand’s criminal justice system is a crisis hiding in plain sight – and this book lays it bare,” said Helen Farley, late professor and UC criminal justice director, in an endorsement of the resource.
