Tough talk: Youth offenders’ perceptions of communicating in the Youth Justice system in New Zealand:

Youth Justice procedures rely heavily on oral language. International research suggests young people in the Youth Justice system have poorer language skills than their non-offending peers, which has implications for their participation in Youth Justice processes and rehabilitation programmes. Most research of youth offenders’ communication skills focuses on standardised assessments and quantitative measures, with little known of young people’s perceptions of communicating within the highly verbally mediated Youth Justice setting. This exploratory study used semi-structured interviews of eight males, of unknown language-skill status, from one Youth Justice residence in New Zealand. Results suggested the young people felt they had no control or ‘voice’ in court, or with adults whose roles, or with whom, they were not familiar. Communicating in court was an area of significant difficulty for nearly all the participants; they reported feeling unable to say what they wanted or understand what was going on. Con...