Kids gone bad
A child not old enough to start school is the youngest person collared by police in the past year, after they were caught fighting another child on the street.
Although some of the alleged offending by children seems like youthful indiscretion, an experienced child psychologist says youngsters who may become serious offenders can be identified as young as 7 years old.
Police, under the Official Information Act, have provided the Manawatu¯ Standard with information about the 10 youngest people they caught in each policing region from March 2017 until February 2018.
Specific ages were not provided, but police confirmed two children – one younger than 5, the other aged between 5 and 9 – were caught fighting on the street they lived on.
Meanwhile, a child aged between 5 and 9 was caught stealing money from an honesty box.
Specific details were not given for other offending, but the majority was for minor offences such as theft, unlawfully entering a property, or wilful damage.
One child between 5 and 9 was caught for misuse of regulated weapons.
Massey University psychologist Dr Ruth Gammon, who has experience working with children in the justice sector, said child offenders were a family issue.
Research showed children who offended early on usually had mental health problems, or dysfunctional families.
The children most likely to become long-term offenders could usually be identified by the age of 7, Gammon said.
Symptoms could include acting out at school, being aggressive, ‘‘getting into mischief’’ or having problems at home, she said.
Only a small percentage of young offenders came from functional families – the majority had problems at home with violence or dysfunction.
‘‘Kids aren’t born bad,’’ Gammon said.
‘‘Parents don’t have kids to raise them poorly.
‘‘A lot of the time the parents don’t have the skills, support or resources they need for their kids.’’
Those parents may have been raised in a violent environment, making it all the knew, Gammon said.
There were programmes for children and parents to learn those skills, but, because of funding limits, they were often limited to families with children who committed serious offences, she said.
‘‘You have to reach such a high threshhold... but by that time it is really hard, sometimes, to address the issues because they have been going on for years.’’
A police spokesperson said they were not able to provide someone for an interview, but provided a statement saying the youngest offenders were a small fraction of the whole.
Police worked with schools to prevent crime, with specially trained officers tailoring their approach depending on the age of the children they worked with.
‘‘Many of our staff are parents, or have close involvement with children through our own families, and consequently work to communicate with children effectively and considerately,’’ the spokesperson said.
Specialist staff worked with families and other agencies to try to prevent further offending, the spokesperson said.
Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced in January more than $27 million was being assigned to provide better support for children and young people involved in youth justice services.