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What is gang mediation?
Gang liaison is a process that has been utilised in New Zealand since the mid-1970s as a means of penetrating gang groups to assist them in undertaking pro-social community development.
Through this process, outreach workers are used to identify causes of conflict and implement a gang mediation process to resolve inter-gang disputes.
Gang mediation appears to be promising whenever it is utilised. Its true effectiveness, however, is unknown as it has never been evaluated in New Zealand. Despite this, mediation is considered to be an effective dispute resolution tool and it is utilised in many different forms, including industrial mediation, tenancy mediation, relationship mediation, etc. For gang mediation to be fully effective it needs to be part of a broader strategy to manage gang behaviours.
Learn more about gang mediation below, including what it is, how effective it can be and why it cannot be an afterthought.
Through this process, outreach workers are used to identify causes of conflict and implement a gang mediation process to resolve inter-gang disputes.
Gang mediation appears to be promising whenever it is utilised. Its true effectiveness, however, is unknown as it has never been evaluated in New Zealand. Despite this, mediation is considered to be an effective dispute resolution tool and it is utilised in many different forms, including industrial mediation, tenancy mediation, relationship mediation, etc. For gang mediation to be fully effective it needs to be part of a broader strategy to manage gang behaviours.
Learn more about gang mediation below, including what it is, how effective it can be and why it cannot be an afterthought.
Who are gang mediators?
Image by Aaron Smale
Gang mediation is a specialised field and can be dangerous for people who are not familiar with gang sub-culture and dynamics. Furthermore, unless the mediator has credibility with the gang community, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to penetrate gang groups.
Gang mediation practices in New Zealand have utilised gang leaders or people with close connections with gang communities as mediators. The advantage of this process is that the mediators are familiar with gang culture and protocols and are therefore able to communicate with the various gangs and their members. A suitable mediator is often a leader who is highly respected within the wider gang community.
Gang mediation practices in New Zealand have utilised gang leaders or people with close connections with gang communities as mediators. The advantage of this process is that the mediators are familiar with gang culture and protocols and are therefore able to communicate with the various gangs and their members. A suitable mediator is often a leader who is highly respected within the wider gang community.
The history of gang mediation in New Zealand
In 1976, the Detached Youth Workers Scheme was established to enable outreach youth workers to work with gang groups. In 1982, the Group Employment Liaison Scheme (GELS) was established as it was recognised that there needed to be points of contact within the bureaucracy for gang work trusts and other community employment groups. GELS was designed to assist the various groups in negotiating a system of employment, training, or education [1]. A small number of GELS field officers were gang members, or gang associates, and were occasionally involved in mediating gang disputes.
The gang mediation process was so successful that it was utilized to mediate gang disputes in several prisons, including Mt Eden Prison and Auckland Prison, also known as Pāremoremo, which contains New Zealand's only specialist maximum-security prison unit [2].
Following the 1989 Ministerial Review of the prison system, the official Department of Justice policy for the management of gangs in prison was not to accord any recognition to gangs or gang leadership within the prison environment. However, due to the high levels of gang confrontations in the prison, the gang liaison approach was redeployed as a way to mediate between the gangs. Gang leaders such as Roy Dunn were utilised in the mediation process [3,4]
Following the 1989 Ministerial Review of the prison system, the official Department of Justice policy for the management of gangs in prison was not to accord any recognition to gangs or gang leadership within the prison environment. However, due to the high levels of gang confrontations in the prison, the gang liaison approach was redeployed as a way to mediate between the gangs. Gang leaders such as Roy Dunn were utilised in the mediation process [3,4]
The future of gang mediation
Currently gang mediation has not reached its full potential and is often utilised as an afterthought, or after several violent incidents has already taken place. In many cases the gang mediation process is not completed and loses its effectiveness over time and violence reoccurs.
The under-utilisation of gang mediation can be attributed to:
The under-utilisation of gang mediation can be attributed to:
- the lack of desire to participate by the parties involved – one group may be seeking dominance over the other or one group is seeking revenge, thus their lack of desire to take part in a mediation process;
- there is no previous relationship established by the mediators with the parties or one of the parties in dispute; and
- gang mediation is not generally supported by the police, community leaders or officials.
Discover more
This article is part of our Framework page, which provides key information about our approach to working with hard to reach communities. You can learn more about our framework via the button below, or head straight to our next article about who hard to reach whānau are and why that definition is so important.
References
[1] The Committee on Gangs. (1981) Report of the Committee on Gang. Government Printers, Wellington
[2] Meek, J (1992) Gangs in New Zealand Prison.s Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology.
[3]. Roper, C (Sir) (1989) The Ministerial Review of the Prison System. Department of Justice, Wellington.
[4] Particularly between Black Power and the Mongrel Mob.
[2] Meek, J (1992) Gangs in New Zealand Prison.s Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology.
[3]. Roper, C (Sir) (1989) The Ministerial Review of the Prison System. Department of Justice, Wellington.
[4] Particularly between Black Power and the Mongrel Mob.
