Imagining Justice Transformation in Aotearoa: Possibilities and Pitfalls
Date
Authors
Gordon, Grace
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
It is well‐noted that for as long as there have been prisons, there has been continued resistance to their use and calls for alternatives. Debates amongst advocates for change in the justice system fixate on whether prison reform or abolition is the answer. This article engages with narratives from 16 semi‐structured interviews with people who advocate or work in the justice system. The participants included penal populists, prison reformers, and prison abolitionists. Despite differing in their politics, participants recognised that the criminal punishment system in Aotearoa needs to change. This article sheds light on both diverging and collective visions for change, in the hopes of highlighting the possibilities and pitfalls of transformative change.Description
Keywords
aotearoa, criminal punishment system, justice, prison abolition, qualitative, reflexive, thematic analysis, transformative change, visions of change
Source
Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, ISSN: 1177-083X (Print); 1177-083X (Online), Wiley, 21(1). doi: 10.1002/kot2.70001
Publisher's version
Rights statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.