The first pilot camp will feature both a military-style component and a “rehabilitative and trauma-informed care approach”.
New Zealand has a 50-year track record with military-style boot camps for unruly youths, from”corrective training” camps of the 1980s and 1990s. By 1997, the reconviction rate for participants was 92 per cent and the programme was scrapped a few years later.
Willow-Jean Prime is a Northland-based Labour MP and has a strong background in law, advocacy and Māori and community development. She is also a māmā of two daughters, Hihana and Heeni. She is Labour’s spokeswoman for children, youth, and associate education (Māori).
OPINION
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up safe and loved, receives a well-rounded education, and feels a sense of belonging in their whānau and community.
For some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm they can’t escape on their own. This is what is driving much of the criminal behaviour we’re seeing in our communities today.
This needs to stop. There is a wealth of good evidence that shows us pragmatic solutions that deal with a young person’s behaviour, alongside wider issues in the family, can reduce offending.
In government, Labour created a circuit-breaker programme to do exactly that. It got the right agencies around a young person within 48 hours of their offending and meant support services could be provided straight away to the child and their family.
This programme works. In a briefing provided to the incoming National Government, it had a 76 % success rate, meaning over three-quarters of participants were not reoffending.
Youth advocates and the present Government have acknowledged its effectiveness, but despite the success of this approach, they’re choosing to invest in military-style boot camps. They’re rejecting decades of evidence and expert advice, as they turn shallow marketing slogans into harmful policy.
What’s even more worrying is that ministers are contradicting one another and appear to be making things up as they go. Weeks before boot camps are supposed to begin, Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has said they “are still under design”.
The NZ Defence Force has warned National that military-style training does not work for young people with complex needs, has caused serious mental harm to staff, and is an unsafe environment for defence personnel. But Christopher Luxon has said he “doesn’t care” about people’s opinions on what works — not even the Chief Children’s Commissioner.
Willow-Jean Prime says there is a wealth of good evidence that shows pragmatic solutions that deal with a young person’s behaviour, alongside wider issues in the family, can reduce offending.
Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell claimed the NZ Defence Force would be heavily involved, directly contradicting his boss Christopher Luxon, who said it was a “fair characterisation” to describe the NZDF’s involvement as only at a governance level.
Mitchell also claimed the programme was similar to the Limited Service Volunteer programmes the military already runs. The Defence Force strongly disagreed with that, emailing the Defence Minister’s office pointing out a list of differences and suggesting that comparison should not be used.
They should cut their losses and cancel the boot camps before they begin.
Labour has been spending time with organisations that work closely with young people doing it tough and who deeply understand both the issues they’re facing, and the support needed to create safer communities. The millions being wasted on a boot camp experiment for 10 children could instead be spent on youth workers, youth aid officers, social workers and rehabilitative support that would increase safety in our communities now and far into the future.
We’ve also seen the Government strip away funding for youth experiencing homelessness and cull hundreds of jobs at Oranga Tamariki — including jobs in youth justice. These are the wrong choices that won’t help reduce crime, help children and young people, or make New Zealand safer.
