The headline this week read, “14-year-old facing 53 charges in Christchurch”. To list the other headlines from this year of youth offending would take all my allocated words. There is no one simple answer as to why we are seeing this influx of crime. One thing is for sure –we can’t just keep doing what we are doing.
That’s why I welcome National’s announcement this week to create youth offender military academies where offenders aged 15 to 17 years old can be sent for up to 12 months. In my experience, teenagers don’t particularly like boundaries and restrictions – but they need them. As a parent, it was because of my love that I was prepared for my own to dislike me as I put in restrictions that they did their best to push against.
As an aside, one of my favourite “gotchas” was when my BF and I snuck out of her house at night as teens, went and met some boys and hung out at the beach. Upon returning we climbed the tree to the second storey and through the window to drop on to her bed. Only to wake her mother who was sleeping in her bed waiting for our return. I think I am still grounded.
Their own parents can’t or won’t provide this structure so it is up to the state to do it. For the sake of the young person and their present and future victims they need support and to learn self-discipline. There is a reason that a number of these youth offenders join gangs. More often than not it is in search of a family, camaraderie and a sense of belonging. These military academies can provide that in a healthy, caring environment.
I have written before about LSV, the Limited Service Volunteer programme that runs for six weeks with young people aged 17 to 25. For some of them, it is the first time they have had regular meals and exercise. The first time someone has “seen” them and talked to them as a human being. The first time they have had expectations put on them and adults that believe they can live up to them.
These youth offenders will need six to 12 months. They will stumble, they won’t all transform. But if we give up on them and just wait until their offending is at an age where they can be jailed then the shame should be on us.
Paula Bennett is a former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party politician who now works at Bayleys Real Estate as national director-customer engagement.
