Meet James Mehigan, ANZSOC Aotearoa New Zealand Vice President

• Congratulations on your appointment as ANZSOC’s Aotearoa Vice President. What does taking on this role mean to you, and what drew you to it at this point in your career?

I think it’s really important to have good collegiality in academia. There is a risk with the way in which academic success is marked, funded, operated and rewarded that we become hyper- individualised in our focus and disconnected from one another. To me this demonstrates the necessity of a thriving learned society for our field. When I joined the Society five or six years ago there were only about 10 members in Aotearoa. Membership fees were quite high and many universities and justice sector employers didn’t cover the fee. The Society didn’t feel very vibrant here. A lot of people have worked to change that in the past few years. The fees have come down and we have had a couple of ANZSOC events here as well as the 2024 conference. It feels to me like there is a bit of momentum and I would like to try to build on that, ideally in a sustainable way.

• Could you tell us a little about your background and current research interests?

I am never sure if I’m a criminal defence barrister who is a criminologist or a criminologist who is a criminal defence barrister. So perhaps I can be both? I studied law as an undergraduate and criminology for my masters. Then I completed my PhD in criminology (focussing on neighbourhood policing) at the Open University under Professors Louise Westmarland and Karim Murji. I find the broad understanding I have of the criminal justice system and its place in society (which I have obtained through being a criminologist) a useful way to better place my work as a lawyer and I’ve found my work as a lawyer has helped me form questions for research in criminology.

However it does mean I’m often pulled in a lot of different directions. I have acted in some fascinating and rewarding cases such as the Hillsborough Inquests and the Jogee appeal (that completely reversed the law on joint enterprise) in the UK Supreme Court, but I’ve also been keen to explore criminological questions from a more social science perspective.

My biggest research interest at the moment is on the legal regulation of human rights in the prisons of Aotearoa New Zealand, something that might be loosely called ‘prison law’. I have been lucky enough to work with Dr Eesvan Krishnan of Thorndon Chambers and Dr Fleur Te Aho of the University of Auckland in securing a grant from the Borrin Foundation to support this work. So that will be my central research focus for the next couple of years.

• What do you see as the key criminological issues or debates currently facing Aotearoa New Zealand?

In my opinion the biggest social issue in Aotearoa today is the over-representation of Māori in our justice system generally and in prison specifically. About 52% of the prison population are Māori when they are only 19% of the general population. This figure rises to about 64% when looking at the female prison population. This is a shocking over-representation and it is compounded by the fact that New Zealand has a higher level of imprisonment per capita than the countries, such as the UK, Australia, Canada or Ireland, that it would often consider its peers. The ease with which people are imprisoned in a country that says it can’t afford to properly run its schools is very depressing.

• How do you hope to represent and support criminology scholars and practitioners based in Aotearoa through this role?

I hope that by building a sustainable and vibrant presence for the Society on this side of the Ditch we will be able to more easily support one another in our work and well-being. A lot of what criminologists do in Aotearoa can be somewhat iconoclastic and our research and findings often finds opposition from the powerful and the public. This can be wearing on those of us who try to use evidence to contribute to the policy discussion on criminal justice. We have started discussing how criminologists might make a greater contribution to the debate in the lead up to our general election in November. Historically this is a policy area that often comes up in election years but rarely is the debate properly founded in the evidence. This is not a problem unique to New Zealand, but it is one that members of the Society here tell me that they would like to try to address.

I’d also like to have another one-day conference like we held last year and ideally make this a sustainable annual event. The Society is not the only way in which networking in our field takes place, but it would be great if we were a contributor in some way so that we are all able to help each other out; whether that is with peer reviews, references, interdisciplinary collaboration, guest lecturers or just personal conviviality and chat. We have a lot of clever and talented people working in criminology and its adjacent fields. I’d like us all to enjoy and share that mass of expertise.

• What opportunities do you see for strengthening connections between criminology communities in Aotearoa, Australia, and the wider Pacific region?

One of the best things to come out of the ‘Transforming ANZSOC’ work that we did in the past few years was the emergence of a formal Pacific Criminology interest group. Of course Pacific Criminology has been around a long time and scholars have been doing excellent work on it across the region, but it has been great to see how much it has thrived in the last couple of years and I have really enjoyed the work that so many colleagues have produced in this field.

So, we know that the Society can help groups flourish and I would like to see us do more of that. I’d also like to see more collaboration with scholars and practitioners from the margins. Whether that is the geographical margins like Aotearoa and the Pacific, or the political and social margins. The Society can help a bit with that. So hopefully members, or potential members, reading this might think that sounds like a good idea and get involved or help get others involved.

Feel free to email me if you think I can help: james.mehigan@canterbury.ac.nz

• Finally, is there anything you’d like ANZSOC members to know about you or your vision for the role as you begin your term as Aotearoa Vice President?

Perhaps the most important and interesting thing about me is that I am, like Michael Jordan and Carols Acosta, a dad of twins 😊!