The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City

It's late 2020. Rikihana Wallace, a prolific shoplifter of no fixed abode, is back in prison with little chance of bail. Nathan Morley, unemployed, is facing burglary charges and hoping his other, as yet undetected, offences don't catch up with him. Lewis Skerrett, their overstretched legal aid lawyer, is trying to do right by them both. The culmination of over two years of field research and hundreds of hours of interviews, The Valley follows these three Hutt Valley men through courtrooms, prison, hospital, rehab, boarding houses and welfare offices. Told largely in verbatim dialogue, this up-close and personal account brings the realities of the New Zealand criminal justice system to life through the voices of those who experience it first-hand.