Jump in boys' violent crimes alarms judge

Judge Andrew Becroft

The judge in charge of sentencing young offenders is becoming increasingly worried by a surge in serious violent offences by teenagers.

Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft said: "Everyone in the youth justice sector is very concerned about it and watching it very carefully. Why are our boys - and they are mostly boys - becoming more seriously violent?"

He said it was not the result of the "P" epidemic which is affecting the adult crime rate.

"I don't think that 'P' has yet become a real factor in the Youth Court. We shudder to think what would happen if it does," he said.

"We know there are drug dealers offering free start-up packs of P to get young people using and then dependent. But cannabis and alcohol are our real problems.

"We are seeing girls becoming more violent, too. Eighty-five per cent of Youth Court offenders are male, but there has been a slow and noticeable increase in girls offending, specially in groups. That is a really worrying trend."

It was not clear yet if the increase in serious violence was also a trend or just a "blip", or whether it was associated with teenage gangs which were implicated in an alleged murder in Flat Bush, Manukau, last year.

"Most causes of youth offending start pretty early," Judge Becroft said. "The Brainwave Trust or [psychiatrist] Bruce Perry would tell you that the brain is hardwired for violence by the age of 2 or 3."

The number of youths aged 14 to 16 caught for grievous or serious assaults jumped from 1097 in 2003 to 1235 in 2004.

The increase, also showing up in Australia and the United States, is worrying judges because it contrasts with a generally stable picture for other youth crime.

It is one of the factors driving more young people into police cells because of a shortage of beds in secure youth residences, giving urgency to controversial plans for a new youth residence at Kaharoa, near Rotorua.

Judge Becroft said the increase was only in the most serious violent crime.

"The type of offending is becoming more serious. That is why our residential services have to be absolutely top-shelf," he said.

Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS) figures show the number of young people in police cells rose from 573 in 2004 to a record 703 last year. The total nights they spent in the cells jumped from 1464 to 2571.

CYFS has only three secure residences, in Manukau, Palmerston North and Christchurch, with a total of 102 beds. The Kaharoa facility would add a further 24, with plans to expand to 32 eventually.

Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro has convened a series of meetings with CYFS, police and other agencies to find other ways of keeping young people out of police cells.

Judge Becroft said the main factor forcing judges to remand young people in police cells was "a failure in CYFS strategic planning".

The agency's own projections showed a need for 130 beds in secure residences by now, partly because of a bulge in the number of 14- to 16-year-olds between 2002 and 2008.

He said the law allowed for an alternative sentence of "supervision with activity" where young offenders can be placed with community organisations.

But this scheme had been eroded because CYFS social workers had been diverted on to care and protection work.

A major review of CYFS' youth justice capability is now out for consultation with other agencies and is due to go to ministers in the second quarter of this year.