KEY POINTS:
Youth Court judges plan new measures to identify offenders with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in the wake of research showing that 60 per cent of babies born with the syndrome eventually get into trouble with the law.
American experts Kathryn Kelly and Judge Anthony Wartnik told a youth offending conference in Wellington yesterday that young offenders with the syndrome should be treated differently from others because they are "disabled, not defiant".
The syndrome, caused by mothers drinking alcohol during pregnancy, has a variety of effects in different people, with a third born with facial deformations such as a smooth upper lip without the usual ridges.
Ms Kelly said most victims suffered brain damage which made them unable to focus or learn from experience, easily frustrated, quick to anger and unable to understand the consequences of their actions.
She said US studies showed that 60 per cent got into trouble with the law, 50 per cent engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviour and 45 per cent developed alcohol or drug problems themselves.
Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft, who heard their presentation, said their figures meant the New Zealand Youth Courts probably saw about 70 youths with the syndrome every year - yet he had never seen a full diagnosis of the syndrome for any young offender.
"I think it gives us cause for significant concern and reflection about are we missing what might be a key factor causative of offending," he said.
"I will be putting measures in place to ensure that this is not missed any longer."
Christine Rogan of Alcohol Healthwatch, which brought the two experts to New Zealand, said no research had been done on how many babies were born here with fetal alcohol syndrome, but it could be more than the US figure of 1 per cent.
"It's likely to be higher, given what we know about our patterns of drinking and the fact that women's drinking in New Zealand has gone up, particularly in the last 10 years," she said.
She said no one knew exactly what caused the syndrome because sometimes it appeared in only one baby out of twins, who had been exposed to exactly the same levels of alcohol.
The US has put warnings on all alcohol labels advising pregnant women not to drink since 1989. In that time the proportion of pregnant women drinking has dropped from 21 per cent to 12 per cent.
But in New Zealand warning labels are not required and a 2002 survey found that a quarter of women who were 24 weeks pregnant had drunk alcohol in the previous week.
Judge Wartnik, a consultant to the Fetal Alcohol Drug Unit at the University of Washington, said judges needed to take account of the syndrome as both an aggravating factor, because of the increased likelihood of reoffending, and a mitigating factor "because these youth don't think the way other children do".
Judge Wartnik and Kathryn Kelly will hold a seminar for youth justice workers in Auckland on Monday. Ph (09) 520 7037.
