June 25, 2024
New tag for tough kids
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Labour’s spokesperson for children and youth, Willow-Jean Prime, says the new Young Serious Offender designation will fail because it is based on rhetoric rather than evidence.
Children’s Minister Karen Chhour says young offenders covered by the new designation will face tougher consequences, including being sent to a military-style academy, subjected to a greater use of electronic and judicial monitoring, and being liable for arrest without warrant for non-compliance with conditions of an order or a breach of their bail conditions.
The academy idea will be tested by sending 10 young people already in youth justice facilities to the facility in Palmerston North, where they will be put through a three-month programme designed by Oranga Tamariki working with the Defence Force, Justice, Police, mana whenua and other community groups.
Ms Prime says the $5-million dollar pilot rejects decades of evidence and expert advice.
“What we know, from past bootcamps, is that they have not been successful, that they have not lowered reoffending rates, that they have had a high rate of failure,” she says.
Ms Prime says the Government talks about better support for youth offenders while cancelling more than $30-million in funding for support programmes.