Te Ao Mārama is a judicially led District Court initiative that partners with iwi and communities to work with the court and justice sector agencies to ensure all court participants, including victims and whānau, can understand and better take part in the cases that relate to them. The kaupapa will benefit everyone who attends the District Court. Timely justice is a central feature of it. 

Te Ao Mārama is currently actively engaging in eight District Court locations: Kaitāia, Kaikohe, Whangārei, Hamilton, Tauranga, Gisborne, Napier and Hastings.  

While all remaining District Court locations can introduce Te Ao Mārama approaches outlined in the recently released Te Ao Mārama Best Practice Framework(external link), and apply to adopt court lists and processes in the framework, the core Te Ao Mārama locations are being supported to do so unless one of the lists or processes is already established or it is agreed otherwise. 

Extra funding has been allocated for the active locations only at this stage, to focus effort and enable us to continue to monitor and evaluate the changes and associated wrap-around services and supports. Existing funding, services and supports remain in place. 

Te Ao Mārama is especially focused on supporting children and families at greatest risk when engaging with the family and criminal justice systems. It has significant potential to reduce the number of children in care, the number of children who offend in the medium term, and the number of young people who enter the adult criminal jurisdiction in the longer term – all contributing to an enduring reduction in offending and reoffending and the costs of crime.

Timely justice is fundamental to this kaupapa. Lengthy delays for those waiting for their cases to be heard carry a human toll for everyone involved. Te Ao Mārama recognises every court appearance must be meaningful to participants. Using best practice approaches should reduce unnecessary adjournments. There are many factors across the whole justice sector that contribute to backlogs and the District Court is committed to addressing them, including through the priority-based rostering of judges and scheduling of cases it introduced last year.

Te Ao Mārama is inclusive of everyone, regardless of their ethnicity, culture, abilities, who they are or where they are from.   

It responds to repeated calls for transformative change over the past four decades and long-standing concerns expressed by victims, defendants, parties to proceedings and wider whānau members that they have found District Court processes confusing, alienating, disempowering and retraumatising.

Te Ao Mārama helps judicial officers and court staff to support victims in better ways. For example, there are more opportunities for victims and their whānau to speak during the court process.

The kaupapa partners with iwi and communities to design and deliver whānau wrap-around service solutions to meet each community’s diverse needs. It builds from existing services in the community, rather than duplicating them.

Te Ao Mārama requires no changes to the law and does not compromise the independent mana of the judiciary, justice sector agencies or iwi and the community. It is not a new court; it is a new way of working for the District Court and everyone who participates in it.

Some District Court locations are already working in ways that contribute to Te Ao Mārama, including through specialist courts and dedicated lists such as:     

• Family Violence Court (established 2001, now in seven locations)
• Family Violence Intervention Court (2018, Gisborne District Court)
• Te Kōti Rangatahi (2008, now marae in 16 locations)
• Pasifika Court (2010, two locations in Auckland)
• Christchurch Youth Drug Court (2002)
• Young Adult List (2020, now in three locations)
• Matariki Court (2011, Kaikohe District Court)
• Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court (2012, now in three locations)
• New Beginnings Court (2010, Auckland District Court)
• Special Circumstances Court (2012, Wellington District Court)
• Personal Individual Needs Court (2020, Masterton District Court).

In addition, Whakaorangia te Mana Tangata(external link) is a whānau-centred initiative designed and provided by local iwi or iwi-mandated service providers to support Māori defendants, victims and whānau through the court process. It is in Kaitāia, Gisborne and Kaikohe.

Te Ao Mārama includes knowledge, skills and best practice approaches we already know work well in specialist courts and dedicated lists, such as:

• Enhancing connections with local communities
• Improving the quality of information judicial officers get to inform their decisions
• Improving processes for victims and complainants
• Encouraging people to feel heard in the courtroom
• Establishing alternative courtroom layouts
• Using plain language
• Toning down formalities
• Adopting ‘solution-focused’ judging – asking “what has happened to this person to bring them to this point in their life?” and then addressing those causes.

Based on experience in our own and overseas specialist courts, the impacts of Te Ao Mārama will include:

• Reduced offending, reoffending and seriousness of reoffending
• Increased wellbeing of court participants and their communities, including improved cultural identity, social and whānau connections, and social cohesion
• Reduced disproportionate representation of Māori in the justice system
• Increased trust and confidence in the justice system.