500 kids under 12 arrested
And the reason why many youngsters are being picked up? Police say they’re poor, hungry and need transport
More than 500 primary school children have been arrested in the past five years — many caught stealing or fleeing from police because their families couldn’t afford basics such as food and transport, experts say.
New statistics released to the Herald reveal more than 23,000 children aged under 15 were arrested between 2014 and 2018. Of those, 555 were under 12. As of June this year, a further 1445 children, 39 under 12, had been added to the statistics.
Senior Sergeant Simon King said the children were being picked up for incidents such as graffiti, violence or stealing, but also in situations where they were unsafe or on the streets. There were many factors but poverty was the major driver, King said.
“During an initiative with youth involved in police pursuits some said they would take cars because they had no means of transport, and were hungry and needed to get food.
“It is easy to say they are nicking cars for a bit of a joy ride, but really, it is a reaction to poverty, and so with youth offending we look at the whole picture.”
None of the under-12s arrested had ended up before the courts, because 10 was the age of criminal responsibility and children up to 12 could be charged only for murder or manslaughter, and there were no cases.
In most situations the children were taken home, but in more serious cases or where their homes were
unsafe they were referred to youth aid or Oranga Tamariki. Police told the Herald they did not have numbers for those referrals.
The number of children 15 and under being arrested is falling — 4247 in 2014 and 3778 last year. King said this was due to police taking a less punitive approach, seeking alternatives and working more closely with other agencies.
But the drop has not been as great for Ma¯ori. Of those aged 15 and under arrested last year, more than 73 per
cent were Ma¯ori, up from 68 per cent in 2014. Of the 72 under-12s, 60 were Ma¯ ori.
The figures, released by police under the Official Information Act, showed similar trends for all youth arrests under 18, with Ma¯ori 66 per cent in 2018, up from 60 per cent in 2014.
Ma¯ ori Principals’ Association president Myles Ferris said the high proportion of young Ma¯ori arrested showed police strategies had failed. Young Ma¯ori were more likely to be picked up because police spent more time patrolling areas of higher deprivation, often with high Ma¯ori populations.
Strive Community Trust chief executive Sharon Wilson-Davis said the key to reducing youth arrests was to keep children occupied. The trust, run out of Te Puea Marae in Ma¯ ngere, started through iwi Waikato-Tainui with a focus on Ma¯ori in the area, but now worked with all youth.
“I think children respect and appreciate compassion, kindness and boundaries, no matter what their race.”
Lifewise team leader of youth housing Aaron Hendry said the figures were no surprise: “We are noticing more and more young people living on the streets of Auckland, and 80 to 90 per cent are Ma¯ ori.”
Many youth for whom they helped find housing had never felt as if they’d had a home.
“The links to crime are about a longing for community, which they find in peers or gangs. It is about stability and survival, stealing food, or cars for transport.”
Chief science adviser for the justice sector Dr Ian Lambie said a drop in arrest rates was positive, but 12 and under remained a “gap” in the system because they were below the police’s scope: “We are talking about young people, many out of the school system, with multiple adversities in their lives, often a cocktail of drugs, alcohol and violence in their family lives.”
Lambie was involved in therapeutic programmes, including government agencies and iwi, to work with high-risk youth, but said more must be done: “If we can identify these youth early we can stop them going on to become serious offenders, developing mental illnesses, and really can improve their lives.”
Oranga Tamariki’s director of youth justice system development, Phil Dinham, said it initiated family conferences and developed action plans for children referred by police.