Police are investigating after five people used hammers to smash their way into G.A.S Māngere overnight. Video / Hayden Woodward
Teenagers raised in hardship and propelled into lives of crime are using their experiences to urge Parliament not to pass a bill creating a ram-raid offence and enabling 12 and 13 year olds to be charged in the courts.
They were among the many people voicing their opposition to the Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill rushed through by Labour before it lost last year’s election.
MPs on the Justice Select Committee today heard from people representing legal and youth-focused organisations who made submissions on the bill that would create a new criminal offence for ram raids, punishable by up to 10 years in jail and applicable to 12 and 13 year olds in the Youth Court.
The bill would also allow a bodily sample to be taken from the child, and make publishing footage of a ram raid – including livestreaming it – an aggravating factor at sentencing.
One of the more striking submissions came from members of The Pride Project, a community-led initiative based in South Auckland that aimed to combat anti-social activity and support people with complex needs.
Among those from the initiative was Aaron Tyree, an 18-year-old who spoke of growing up watching domestic violence, which he said led him to being a recidivist ram raider and conducting several aggravated robberies as a way to release the inner turmoil his living environment created.
His life turned around when he became involved with The Pride Project and pleaded with MPs not to support the locking-up of teenagers, but to empower support initiatives instead.
“If [you] jail them, you’re just wasting half of their childhood.”
His submission was followed by powerful kōrero from 19-year-old Eryka Kiri, who said her upbringing was similar to Tyree’s as her father was a gang member and her mother affiliated with gangs through her whānau.
Having grown up exposed to violence and drugs, Kiri said she had a strong “culture shock” at 15 when she found out her childhood wasn’t the norm.
She implored MPs to use their power to address the causes of criminal offending instead of focusing solely on an immediately punitive approach.
“I really beg you to consider what you are doing, you are punishing us for your generation’s mistakes.”
A similar message was sent by representatives of Voyce, an advocacy group for children who are living or have lived in state care.
National MP James Meager is head of the justice select committee. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Voyce national spokesman Tupua Urlich said children who’d suffered while in state care would feel “under attack” by the bill. He challenged MPs by asking why they were not instead doing further work to hold accountable those working in the state-care system to ensure the service improved.
Committee member and Green MP Tamatha Paul asked Urlich why he thought the Government was targeting young people, citing another policy to have military academies for youth up and running by the middle of this year.
In response, Urlich believed it was about “pleasing their voter base”.
“None of this makes sense, none of this is going to be good for our rangatahi and tamariki, why would else would you do it?”
While the bill is progressing under the coalition Government of National, Act and New Zealand First, it was created by the then-Labour Government last July as a last-ditch attempt to rehabilitate the small group of recidivist young offenders who had been linked to earlier spikes in retail crime, such as ram raids.
It was also part of Labour’s attempt to rehabilitate its public image regarding law-and-order issues ahead of an election dominated by concerns over crime and the high cost of living.
In August last year, then-Attorney General David Parker deemed the bill to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by appearing to violate the right of a child to be dealt with in an age-appropriate way, the right to be free from unreasonable search or seizure, and the right to freedom of expression.
Labour MP David Parker was the former Attorney-General. Photo / RNZ
The bill might be justifiable if the benefits outweighed the harms, but Parker said that “a court is, having considered relevant evidence, likely to conclude that the harms outweigh the benefits”.
Parker’s findings were referenced during submissions from several people including YouthLaw’s general manager Darryn Aitchison, who was frustrated potential electoral success had been prioritised over evidence that outlined the correct approach to youth justice.
Dale Lloyd of the New Zealand Law Society supported Parker’s assessment and claimed it also breached international conventions in relation to children.
Law Society criminal law committee member Professor Jeremy Finn strongly condemned the bill, saying its wording was vague and created issues about who was liable for a ram-raid offence.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
