Brave move on youth justice
National still wants to be seen as the law and order party.
If a 17-year-old keyed your car, would you want them facing the full extent of the law?
What if they broke into your home? Should they go to jail for assault in a drunken street brawl?
A significant sect of hardline law and order apostles answers yes to all of those questions.
But if you subscribe to that view, how about asking yourself this: could you personally write off a 17-year-old as a bad egg – as someone who could never be salvaged?
That is what we do when we condemn all of them to face justice dealt through the adult court system, without exception.
When that young person is standing in the District Court, facing a serious charge that could end in jail time, the options available to a judge can be limited.
Obviously, there are crimes that call for the full weight of the law to be applied, no matter the offender’s age. The Youth Court transfers about 30 cases a year up to the District or High Courts.
But if the aim is to develop a career criminal from an early age, prison is the place to do it.
New Zealand’s Youth Court is an unsung success story, and Children’s Commissioner and former Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft is right when he says the youth justice age is an ‘‘enduring stain’’ on that otherwise admirable achievement.
Youth crime rates are plummeting across New Zealand.
Five years ago, 39,000 10 to 16-year-olds crossed paths with police and about 2000 were charged with offences such as theft, property damage or violent behaviour.
That figure has since declined by more than 40 per cent.
Since a peak in 2007, Youth Court appearances have dropped 61 per cent, from 4998 to 1959 in the 2014-15 financial year.
Contrast that with some of the worst recidivism rates in the world emanating from the adult system, and the finance minister musing that the Government will have to build a new prison to accommodate the growing prison population.
A tough stance on law and order is a proven vote-winner, and raising the youth justice age may be seen as a bold move, particularly for a National Government.
But although there is some ministerial division over the issue, it would be a mistake to think the Government did not have the overall collective will to do it.
That’s the hold-up; it’s a politically sensitive issue to navigate, when perhaps it shouldn’t be. Good money is on them doing it before the year is out.