September 12, 2016
Youth justice age rise pressure
Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell is backing a call from Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft for the youth justice age to be raised a year.
The issue of treating 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system is expected to come up this week when the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child presents its Fifth Periodic Report on New Zealand.
Mr Flavell says holding young people with adults is counterproductive.
"You know they’re still kids for goodness sake and that's the point the new commissioner has been making, In fact they are still kids and often don't necessarily have the support mechanisms around them to be able to deal within the huge court system so, I absolutely support what he is doing in this area," says Te Ururoa Flavell.
Social Development Minister Anne Tolley is leading a delegation to Geneva this week to make submissions on the Periodic Report.
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