Hearing and language difficulties in young people involved in the youth justice system

What is it about?

Youth justice systems use verbal communication in almost every jurisdiction. Studies from around the world show that youth offenders tend to have greater difficulties with oral language, which puts them at a disadvantage when trying to communicate in court or restorative processes, and participating in rehabilitation programs. Our study showed that a group of male youth offenders in youth justice residences in New Zealand had significantly poorer oral language, hearing and listening skills than similarly-aged young people from the community, and that their performance on language tests was similar to those documented in international literature.

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Why is it important?

New Zealand's youth justice system relies heavily on verbally-mediated processes, such as restorative justice meetings with family and victims. Our findings show that many young people in New Zealand's youth justice system are likely to have difficulties with oral language, which has implications for the young people's participation these meetings, or other youth justice processes and programs. Our findings support routine provision of speech-language therapy services for these young people, which are currently seldom available.