August 15, 2017
Boot camp plan ignores evidence
A youth justice reform group says National’s boot camp policy is a recipe for more serious offending.
Julia Whaipooti from Just Speak says the policy was tried in 2008 and it didn’t work.
She says while their offending may be serious, sending young offenders to Waiouru for military style training will just put them on the conveyer belt to adult prisons.
"Discipline isn’t something that is going to fix the situation for them. They are coming out of a society that has failed them. We need to be investing in preventative services, community-based services, things that can catch and assist our rangatahi particularly and tamariki before it gets to this point and this really is putting a lot of money into ambulances which we know don’t work," she says.
Ms Whaipooti says New Zealand is evolving a world leading youth justice system, and it doesn’t need to have retrograde policies thrown into the mix for short term political interest.
Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com