Winston Peters wondered if we asked anyone about the youth course he backs - yes we have

Youth on a Defence force run Limited Services Volunteer (LSV) course.

OPINION

So-called ‘boot camps’ have hit the headlines recently, with debate going backwards and forwards about how successful they are or aren’t.

Based on an expanded Limited Service Volunteer (LSV) course that has been running successfully since 1993, they’re an attempt to do something better than what the youth justice system is currently delivering.

Young people are offered a shot at life skills course run along military lines.

The youth offender ‘boot camps’ will have similarities. There are two key differences however – youth offenders aren’t there by choice. But they’re also on a much longer course. A longer programme allows more opportunities for long-term behavior changes.

Saying young-offender boot camps either will work, or won’t, misses the point.

They will work for some; 65 per cent of 16-year-old offenders offend again within three years. Reoffenders tend to spend a lot of their lives in prison. Each prisoner costs the taxpayer around $150,000 per year. Apart from monetary cost, we owe it to ourselves to try anything that might work.

The LSV scheme is delivered by NZDF personnel and staff from MSD. Staff can’t participate in the debate. It largely comes down to course patrons telling the stories of lives turned around.

The scheme has been praised by ministers from Labour, New Zealand First and National. Those who have seen the scheme first-hand become its champions.

Ross Browne.

Many trainees are hardly recognisable when they graduate. They’ve learnt life and employment skills. They’re proud of what they’ve achieved. They’ve taken a leap of faith and signing up is an act of faith in a welfare system that generally hasn’t supported them. They deserve to be proud.

Orders aren’t bellowed like in a Hollywood film. There are quiet conversations on topics as diverse as personal values and using nutrition to manage mood swings.

Defence staff are intentionally diverse. The grandfather-like old corporal can get through to trainees when younger, more senior staff can’t. Staff are carefully selected. They all volunteer.

Physical and mental health support is provided. Identifying mental health conditions for the first time isn’t unusual. Having a criminal conviction, being on probation or waiting for a court hearing aren’t necessarily barriers to attending.

Part of the course includes basic life skills. Budgeting. Employment and rental rights. Dress and grooming standards. The sort of things that make a difference when you’re turning up for a job interview.

The 1980s version of LSV in the 1980s lasted 20 weeks instead of six.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters.

Both schemes have been successful at changing the attitudes of trainees, including their social skills and motivation. The 1980s course achieved a job placement rate of 35 per cent after completion. The current course achieves between 47 and 56 per cent “off-benefit outcomes” 16 weeks after course completion.

If the goals for the youth offender scheme are realistic and clear, and the lessons from the LSV scheme are applied, then there will be successes. Even modest success will change lives – for the offenders, and people who otherwise have been their victims. We owe it to both to try.

Ross Browne is a former LSV course Patron and is a director of several companies, including Museum Street Strategies, a public affairs firm.