October 10, 2017
Children in jails recipe for offending
A justice reform advocate says an incident last week where a 13 year old boy was kept overnight in police cells in Auckland points to a wider systemic problems.
Kim Workman says the case is the latest to be brought to public attention by Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft, but Judge Becroft’s attempts to get change seems to be ignored by the Government and the relevant state agencies.
He says a custodial mindset is in play, with police now far more likely to oppose bail for young people.
"When you think you are putting people in because you want to protect public safety you’re just delaying the day because what happens is any benefits you get from keeping someone in secure premises for two or three days is negated by the impact of that on that person and so when they leave that facility they are much more likely to reoffend," Mr Workman says.
He says the promise of reform with the replacement of Child Youth and Family with the Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki hasn’t amounted to anything.
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