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September 11, 2023
Child-based approach needed for child crime
Gideon Porter
Posted On September 11, 2023
Download AudioThe Pediatric Society is backing Amnesty International’s call for Aotearoa-New Zealand to repeal a 1961 law that allows 10-year-olds to be charged with murder.
Its Māori director, Wane Wharerau, says he knows from his experience as a police officer for 40-years that a child-based approach, especially with cultural support – works far better than an offence-based approach – which only creates harder criminals of the future.
“We’ve just got to be a bit more forgiving, and try and work our way through these things, we try an introduce them to their culture – whether it be Maori, Samoan, we’ll try and introduce them, and work on them that way, rather than continue to marginalise them,” he says.
Mr Wharerau says politicians need to focus on tackling the drivers of youth crime, rather than punishments and jail time.
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