ABSTRACT
At the tender age of 13, Bailey Junior Kurariki became New Zealand’s youngest individual to be charged with homicide. Kurariki was subsequently convicted of manslaughter for his part in the killing of pizza delivery worker Michael Choy on 12 September 2001, in Papakura, Auckland. Kurariki, then aged 12, acted as a decoy and signalman in the murder, which involved fi ve other teenagers. Labelled by the media as ‘the child who shocked a generation’ (Boland, 2007), Kurariki came from a diffi cult family environment and had been repeatedly removed from his family by social services. Due to his behavioural problems, Kurariki had not attended school since the age of 10 and was regularly in trouble with the police (Kay, 2002). Bailey Junior Kurariki was eventually released from prison in May 2008, after serving 7 years.
