Youth crime is a constant issue in New Zealand – and in the last few years, stories of ram raids, violent attacks and spree offending have dominated the headlines.
Successive governments have tried to tackle the problem – introducing various policies, programmes and plans and even changing legislation.
There has been some success, but for some youth offenders, it seems there is nothing anyone can say or do to stop their often terrifying and relentless behaviour.
His story was published in the Herald in February after a senior Youth Court judge allowed senior journalist Anna Leask access to his extensive criminal file.
The judge described that file as “grim reading” and said it was evident Paddy had been failed by Oranga Tamariki, and experts who made crucial recommendations about his care had been effectively ignored.
In this episode of A Moment In Crime, Leask tells Paddy’s story in more detail - from when he was first flagged with social agencies to just before he turned 18 when he was in court facing charges for a raft of serious offending including “explosive” violence, fleeing police at high speeds and driving recklessly in stolen cars, bashing social workers, other youths and even a shop owner in his 70s.
Paddy had also managed to escape from just about every form of custody you can imagine.
Leask was also granted a rare interview with Principal Youth Court Judge Ida Malosi.
While she is unable to comment on specific cases, Judge Malosi was able to speak with Leask at length about New Zealand’s youth crime issues in general.
She shared examples of what she sees every day in her courtroom, what drives young offenders to offend and how she responds.
She also discussed what can be done in New Zealand - from the government to the community - to address the problem.
Judge Malosi has worked in the youth justice space for the majority of her career and told A Moment In Crime about her motivations.
“I went where the need was and I went where I thought I might be able to make some difference. And indeed, my hope was that I would make a big difference ... not only on the lives of the young people who offend and their families, but also the victims in the communities from which they all come - that’s pretty important to me,” she said.
Judge Malosi described youth crime as a “huge beast” that she and others were “constantly trying to tame”.
It was complete, and her goals were “really hard to attain” but “not elusive”.
She said there was a sense in the community that youth offending was out of control - but the official statistics reflected a much different reality.
“The number of active Youth Court cases has decreased in the last year. I get regular reports from the Ministry of Justice ... and they tell me that in the last year, Youth Court cases are down by 18% - so, 873 cases,” she revealed.
“And that decrease was largely driven by fewer cases coming into the court, which is not rocket science. So over the last five years, if we just take a snapshot of that, the active caseload has decreased by 12%.
“For the last few months or so, we’ve been under that 1000 mark. That’s 1000 children, young people in the whole of the country, which is not to minimise their offending, we should all be alarmed that we have any young people before the court, let alone on serious charges but but those are the numbers.
“We’re also seeing a reduction in the number of young people who are managed in custody.”
Judge Malosi said the driver of youth offending was clear.
“This is something that keeps me up late at night - I think about it a lot,” she said.
“A really clear and consistent message that came through from the speakers [at a recent event she spoke at] was that poverty was at the heart of the choices young people were making in relation to their offending,” she said.
“I interpreted that as meaning more than financial poverty. I think arguably the most profound form of poverty is that poverty of hope - young people who have no hope or aspiration for the future, who live in the moment ... who are actually just surrendering to the circumstances in which they find themselves with little thought - until they’re standing in the dock.
“And that’s the tragedy of it really, that the realisation doesn’t hit until it’s too late. But that’s also the reality of the cohort that we’re dealing with - young people whose brains and cognitive functioning and ability to make reasoned, sound decisions are scientifically just not there.”
Judge Malosi said she was never surprised by the stories of offending that came across her bench, but she was often taken back by the bigger picture.
“I think I’ve seen it all in terms of offending, and nothing I am seeing I have not seen in the course of my 35 years or so in youth justice,” she said.
“But that’s not to say that every time I see a young person on serious offending, then I’m not struck by how it’s even possible someone of that age could commit such serious offending - and sometimes we’re talking here about 12 and 13-year-olds. How? How is it even possible in God’s own, in New Zealand, that we’re grappling with these issues and can’t solve them in our village of five million?
“We need to keep having those conversations about what we can do individually and what we can do as a community.”
For Leask’s full interview with Judge Malosi and to hear Paddy’s full story, click here.
A Moment in Crime is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are released monthly.
Since 2019, A Moment in Crime has produced over 50 episodes, and has been downloaded over 1 million times, with listeners in over 170 countries. It was nominated for Best True Crime Podcast at the 2024 Radio and Podcast Awards.
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for just under 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
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