According to the Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, the pilot for the Military style academy has ended:
“The aim of the pilot, trialling a new approach to working with the country’s most serious and persistent youth offenders to reduce (and, ultimately, end) re-offending, has been achieved and, in some cases, exceeded.
“We have seen marked improvements in these young people’s behaviour, attitudes to offending, and activities.
The pilots end has come with mixed results with more than 70% of participants going on to reoffend and one dieing:
“Oranga Tamariki can confirm the 12-month Military-Style Academy pilot has concluded, with 8 participants completing the program.”
“We have seen some really heartening changes in these young people over the course of the last year, changes that both they and their whānau should be extremely proud of, as are all of our kaimahi who have worked alongside them for the duration of the pilot,” Deputy Chief Executive of Youth Justice Services Iain Chapman says.
“The majority of the young men took opportunities presented to them during the 3-month residential phase and the 9-month community phase that followed and applied themselves with a real desire to make a change to their old patterns of behaviour,” Mr Chapman says.
Meanwhile the Opposition has made it clear how they see things:
“Christopher Luxon was warned his boot camps wouldn’t work, but went ahead with them anyway,” Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said.
“After ignoring decades of evidence and countless warnings from experts, he is letting young people, their whānau, and communities pay the price.
“Christopher Luxon initially said he didn’t care whether it worked or not. He now needs to own up to the real-life consequences of his gamble with boot camps and take accountability.
“We need clear answers on why the Government is still pressing ahead with its Bill to enshrine boot camps into law given it’s now obvious that they don’t work. They should scrap it.
“This failed experiment shows once again how out of touch Christopher Luxon is,” Willow-Jean Prime said.
