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How to Use
The Youth Court decisions database contains case summaries of Youth Court decisions from 1989 until the present. There is no "free text" searching facility. Case summaries can be located according to a list of topics or key titles of relevance to youth justice, by a particular section of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989, or by year. Youth justice topics can be accessed by selecting the "Full list of key titles" option set out in the blue box above this paragraph. Alternatively, select the "CYPFA section" box to search for cases of relevance to a particular section of the Act or the "Date" option for cases decided in a particular year. Note that case summaries are only arranged under a particular key title or section if they deal with it in some depth. The "What's New" link includes a round-up of recently decided cases.
The database includes case summaries prepared by the Principal Youth Court Judge's office, Brookers, Linx and LexisNexis. Summaries prepared by legal publishers are attributed as such and users can locate the full judgment in those company's products. Where a case summary has no such attribution, the full judgment may be held by the Principal Youth Court Judge's office. To request a judgment contact the office of the Principal Youth Court Judge on (04) 914 3446.
This database has been produced, collated and, in part, written by Rhonda Thompson, Research Counsel to the Principal Youth Court Judge. Her enormous dedication, expertise and hard work is reflected in the quality of this database and her assistance is acknowledged. We also acknowledge the additional assistance given by Ms Margaret Gifford, Senior Solicitor, Child Youth and Family Services, Christchurch and the expertise and patience of Chris Richardson, Judicial Libraries Team, Ministry of Justice.
The Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 is abbreviated in certain summaries to "CYPFA" and the various Courts are abbreviated also, for example the High Court is noted as "HC" and the Youth Court as "YC".