Little Criminals: The Story of a New Zealand Boys' Home

by David Cohen

From the late 1950s to the mid 1980s, when most of them were closed down, the New Zealand government maintained 26 residences for children and teenagers. Some of those children had the bad fortune to come from families with large numbers of children and who couldn't cope financially. Plucking a child out and putting him in a home to ease the burden was seen as a solution. Other children in came from profoundly dysfunctional backgrounds or were profoundly dysfunctional themselves. Could putting them all together in close quarters, supervised by staff with mostly inadequate training, ever deliver a positive outcome? In this powerfully written book David Cohen, who himself spent time at Epuni Boy's Home in the 1970s, argues not. He tracks down former residents and staff members, many of whom argue that boys' - home stints led boys to, rather than away from, lives of crime. It also led some into abuse. Evocatively and originally written, Cohen's research takes him back to the era of moral panic about juvenile delinquency that drove the creation of the homes and traces the sea change in ideas about the care of troubled adolescents, especially Maori, who were hugely over - represented in the muster, that spelled their eventual demise. Totally gripping, it is a unique insider account of a failed experiment.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Librarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading Cohen's Little Criminals, the interesting mix of anecdote, science and political analysis created a strong picture of the Epuni Boy's home.

My only beef, was that the overall book felt muddled, boxing analogies, vaguely chronological progression and lack of personal touch (intentional) from the author left the book just short of being the powerful piece of work I was hoping to read.

Nonetheless Little Criminals is a master achievement and much recommended.

[Dead John Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last review was 2019 and this makes only the 4th review which is a bit of a shame as this is an important book in terms of NZ social history. Soon, there will be no-one left alive who endured time in "boys homes" in NZ.

Based on the Epuni Boys Home in the Hutt Valley but it could apply equally to any of the 26 childrens' homes that existed from the 1950's to the 1980's. Whilst started as a way to provide kids from dysfunctional with some stability and education they eventually morphed into puntive institutions that actually did more harm than good.

Institutionalising thousand of boys for their eventual journey to prison. Using ECT as punishment and providing havens for pedophiles, sadly we are only too familiar with this story.

However, the book does lay out how and why these places were established. Improbable as it seems now (/s) it kinda all starts with a media beat up about juvenile delinquency in the US which spread around the western world to unsettle the post war complacency.

Like many other social phenomena, once defined it is rapidly found everywhere and a solution is required immediately. It was (obviously) the fault of the parents so the obvious solution was to remove those kids from their home and family to a place where their errant behaviour could be corrected and punished. For the good of the children of course.

Echoing similar events in other lands these children could be uplifted and removed withno real oversight and there was nothing the parents could do. One day a knock on the door and the boy is removed to a place where the parents had virtually no access.

The book is written by a man that went through this system but defying the odds went to become a journalist and lead a fulfilling life. Many of his fellow detainees committed suicide, took to drink and drugs to self-medicate from the trauma inflicted by these institutions.

Such as sad story but well worth a read.

[Lyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should have been gripped by this book because it is about a local institution that has been much in the news, and is of interest to me.
However it was a hard slog getting through it because the writing is incredibly dull. The author has no idea how to write a compelling work of non-fiction. It would have been better had he left out all the "now I am getting literary" bits and just presented the story of the Epuni Boys Home as a long investigative journalism article, perhaps followed by a bit of personal reflection.
Disappointing.

[Barbara Sumner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm very keen on this book. The timing is a shame - if it came out today I think everyone with an interest in social justice in NZ would read it. I think it should be reissued. I really enjoyed the mix of science and personal anecdotes. I found Cohen's stores to be heartfelt and very moving. I reccomend anyone with an interest ins ocial justice to read this book