Child advocate opposes tougher laws

Cindy Kiro. Photo / Supplied

A tough new law may force young teenage offenders into police cells again because there will be nowhere else to put them, says outgoing Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro.

The proposed new law, on which submissions close today, lowers Youth Court jurisdiction from age 14 to 12 for serious offences, facilitates the National Party's election promise of military-style "boot camps" and creates other new youth penalties.

Dr Kiro said the changes threatened one of her proudest achievements as Children's Commissioner since 2003 - a project she led to reduce the numbers of young people being held in adult police cells.

"I'm very optimistic about the work being done on reducing the number of young people in police cells, but with the dropping of the legal age to 12 and 13 that will put pressure on the whole system to drive up the numbers again."

Dr Kiro, 51, leaves office at the end of this month and hinted that she may take up an international appointment.

Former social worker John Angus worked on the Children Young Persons and their Families Act 1989 review. He will fill the role before a permanent replacement is appointed.

The youth justice system is still struggling with a sudden one-third jump in the rate of 14 to 16-year-olds charged with serious assaults and aggravated robberies, from 71 for every 10,000 youngsters in the age group in 2002 to 95 in 2006.

At the same time, community-based programmes for youth offenders have dwindled, to zero in many parts of the country, forcing judges to sentence young offenders to youth justice residences.

But the three residences, at Weymouth, Palmerston North and Christchurch, had been kept small after borstals were closed in line with 1989 reforms aiming to keep young people out of jail, rehabilitating them through family and community interventions instead. The result was a surge in young offenders being held in adult police cells, up from 450 in 2002 to 703 in 2005.

Dr Kiro led a drive to reduce those numbers, which fell to 284 last year. Child, Youth and Family Services said it would fund more community programmes for young offenders. It is adding 10 beds at its 30-bed Palmerston North residence and building a new 30-bed residence near Rotorua.

In February, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett announced a further increase in community programmes, from 125 to 175 placements, more specialised "treatment foster homes" and military-style "boot camps" for 10 of the worst youth offenders at a time.

She said all these measures "should provide enough facilities to accommodate longer residential stays" under the new law.

Dr Kiro said she supported some of the new measures, such as ordering parents on to parenting courses. But she was totally opposed to "boot camps" and lowering the Youth Court age to 12.

"If they are a wilderness experience, fine, especially if they can go with their parents. It's about teaching parent and child more communication skills, but none of it is going to work unless there is follow-up."

She said evidence showed that introducing children to the criminal justice system only made them more antisocial.

"We are a country that has got so much right. I want to know why we are so hellbent on ignoring that evidence," she said.

YOUTH JUSTICE BILL
* Youth Court coverage extended to 12 and 13-year-olds convicted of serious offences.
* Maximum sentences increased to six months in custody, plus a year's supervision.
* Electronic foot bracelets for serious offenders.
* Youths can be ordered on to mentoring or addiction programmes.
* Parents can be ordered to attend parenting courses.

HELPLINE FOR THE PARENTS OF SUSPENDED KIDS SET FOR AXE

A helpline for parents of children who are kicked out of schools may be about to be axed in the Government's drive to cut spending.

The tollfree Parent Legal Advice Line has been run by the Children's Commissioner's office for eight years with a current budget of $240,000 a year.

Outgoing Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro said yesterday that "the indications are that the contract will not survive. There is a good chance that the funding for that is going to be cut by the Ministry of Education."

Deputy Secretary of Education Rawiri Brell said no decision had been made, but added: "This is part of the line by line review which all Government departments have been asked to undertake."

Dr Kiro said the advice line, subcontracted to the Wellington Community Law Centre, received 1900 calls last year, mainly from parents who heard about it from a Ministry of Education guide which schools are supposed to give to parents of students being suspended or excluded.

There were 1433 exclusions, 4679 indefinite suspensions and 20,910 short-term stand-downs from schools in 2007.

Youthlaw senior solicitor John Hancock said he was concerned to hear the service was under threat. He said Youthlaw received more than 2000 calls a year on its tollfree number, but that included calls about other issues as well as suspensions.

"We complement each other. Our service is targeted to providing services to young people and the adults helping young people. The Parent Legal Advice Line is more a service that parents contact directly," he said.

"Also, we are in Auckland and they are in Wellington. We get a majority of our calls from Auckland."