Young may get electronic tags

New Zealand's worst young criminals may be tagged with ankle bracelets or supervised in the community because of a lack of secure beds, the country's top Youth Court judge says.

Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft yesterday attended the opening of a 32-bed Child, Youth and Family (CYF) youth justice unit at Rolleston, near Christchurch.

In an interview, Judge Becroft said he had discussed the option with Justice Minister Phil Goff and CYF Minister Ruth Dyson.

"It would be just like home detention for young people," he said.

An alternative to sending youth offenders to such places as the new Rolleston unit, Te Puna Wai o Tuhinapo, would be to put them on bail in the community or place them on 24-hour supervision, he said.

Five trials of 24-hour monitoring of young criminals in the community were under way, he said.

The shortage of places in secure units had reached a "crisis situation" with youths having been housed in police cells every night for the past six months.

"They are vulnerable and should not be housed with all the sorts of criminals you find in police cells," he said. This situation was "highly unacceptable".

The types of youths placed on home detention were those at the more serious end of the scale, such as violent offenders, who were now housed in secure units or in police cells as overflow accommodation.

These offenders numbered 2000 to 3000 and were predominantly young men with drug or alcohol problems.

This "core group" was about 10 per cent of young offenders but committed about 50 per cent of crime.

Judge Becroft said police Youth Aid officers already successfully dealt with many young offenders in the community.

"They are the unsung heroes of youth justice. They deal with a lot of kids outside the court system but still make them accountable for their offending," he said.

While the new Rolleston facility was "state of the art", the demand for youth justice beds had already superceded it, he said.

The country needed 20 more beds immediately but it was likely to be several years before another facility could be built, he said.

The shortage of beds did not indicate skyrocketing rates of youth crime. CYF had miscalculated the demand several years ago and the overflow had now become apparent.

"The key message for New Zealanders is that things are pretty stable with youth offending," he said.

The Rolleston unit cost $30 million and houses up to 32. It replaces the wing at Christchurch's Kingslea Residential Centre.

It includes a swimming pool, gymnasium, classrooms and several basketball courts.

- NZPA