The promise to revive the idea from National in the lead-up to the election came at a time when ramraids dominated headlines and youth offending garnered much media spotlight.
Herald senior writer Derek Cheng told The Front Page it’s important to bear this in mind when deciphering why the Government is bringing back a scheme, which many think to be moot.
“New Zealand has had boot camps before. They’ve been run overseas before,” Cheng said.
“The consensus among academia is that they don’t work. And if they do work, it’s generally because they have a whole bunch of features in them that aren’t the essential characteristics of boot camps.
“Sir Peter Gluckman wrote a paper in 2018 where he just basically said they do not work and the scare straight tactics can even make things worse.”
There is research showing the cohort of troubled teens who will be attending these boot camps are the nation’s most neglected.
“They’re likely to be a victim of sexual or physical abuse, they’re probably neurodivergent in some way or even have substance challenges from a young age.
“So the people who Oranga Tamariki said were likely to qualify for this Young Serious Offender designation – there are about a hundred of them who would have committed two serious crimes.
“Who are these people? 80% have a confirmed or suspected mental health or disability diagnosis, 20% have tried to take their own lives, 90% have significant learning difficulties, and half of the boys have been physically harmed three times in the past year,” Cheng said.
A pilot is under way with 10 young offenders taking part in a 12-month trial, which began on July 29, at Palmerston North’s Te Au rere a te Tonga youth justice residence.
The 10 teens were chosen from those already in the country’s youth justice residences who had been convicted of two crimes with a sentence of at least 10 years – the criteria for the YSO category the Government is seeking to write into legislation.
“The current pilot is under the current legislative setting. So the actual boot camps are going to be quite different to those ones. The pilot is also a three-month in residence and then nine months in community with lots of wraparound support.
“This is what Oranga Tamariki officials wanted the Government to do in the first place. They said you can provide all these best practice components that are evidence-based without having a boot camp at all,” Cheng said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about the Government’s plan for military-style boot camps, and why they haven’t worked in the past.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
