The 10 teenagers have been chosen from those already in the country’s youth justice residences who had been convicted of two crimes with a sentence of at least 10 years – the criteria for the young serious offender category the Government is seeking to write into legislation.
Children’s Minister Karen Chhour remains unaware of the finer details of the pilot, despite her and the Government coming under persistent questioning for information.
However, she tells the Herald she’ll be seeking a briefing in the coming days from Oranga Tamariki, the agency leading the pilot.
The pilot was intended to inform how the Government would fulfil its policy to create young offender military academies, dubbed boot camps. Once the new young offender category made it through Parliament, it would give judges the ability to send young people aged 14 to 17 years to the boot camps.
The policy was proposed by the National Party ahead of the 2023 election as the previous Labour Government battled to address rising levels of violent youth crime, which was largely committed by a group of about 80 recidivist young offenders.
It was a key plank in the coalition Government’s strategy to achieve its target of reducing youth crime by 15% by 2029 – one of its nine public-sector targets.
Current legislation meant the Government’s pilot had to be held in one of the country’s five youth justice residences. Chhour confirmed the pilot would begin on July 29 and be conducted at Palmerston North’s Te Au rere a te Tonga youth justice residence.
The 10 teens had been selected for the pilot after a clinical assessment and consultation with their families and Family Court judges.
“Not all young people will be suitable for this pilot, they’ll all get a clinical assessment to make sure that there [are] no disabilities or any issues that [mean] they can’t be part of the programme because we don’t want to cause more harm than good by doing this,” Chhour said.
She didn’t know how many families had been approached before reaching the 10-person quota. Chhour wouldn’t detail where the 10 teens had come from, except to say they were from across the country.
Children's Minister Karen Chhour wants to be briefed on the pilot's finer details in the coming days. Photo / Mark Mitchell
In recent weeks, Chhour, Mitchell and Luxon had all faced regular questioning about what exactly the teens would be doing in the pilot. Luxon in particular had often rebuffed those questions by saying he would “make no apologies” for how his Government addressed recidivist criminals.
Chhour, speaking to the Herald on Wednesday, said she hadn’t been updated on the finer details but was seeking a “debrief on that” in the coming days.
She noted how each teen would have individual plans throughout the pilot, which she said compromised her ability to describe what they would be doing.
However, Chhour said there would be a physical component involving “obstacle courses and gyms”, an education aspect and job recruitment courses.
Defence Force (NZDF) personnel were currently training Oranga Tamariki staff to run the pilot.
The level of NZDF’s involvement in the pilot had been confused by conflicting statements from Mitchell and Luxon.
This month Mitchell contradicted an NZDF email which said in March that its personnel would be involved only at a governance level.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon with Police Minister Mark Mitchell gave conflicting statements about the boot camps. Photo / Marty Melville
Mitchell, who developed the policy for National, said the email must have been written by someone who’d misunderstood the Government’s intentions. He promised a “heavy Defence involvement” in back office functions and the running of the boot camps.
Yet, shortly after, Luxon said it was fair to say the NZDF would primarily be involved at the governance level.
Chhour’s description more closely aligned with Luxon’s. She said there wouldn’t be NZDF staff running programmes within the pilot but there would be one defence staffer onsite to oversee it for the three-month in-residence phase.
She promised a “rolling assessment” of the pilot as it progressed through that first phase before the teens spent the following nine months in the community, supported by community mentors and local organisations to help reduce reoffending.
Despite the Government being favourable to setting targets, Chhour said she hadn’t committed to a target concerning how many of the 10 teens in the pilot wouldn’t reoffend.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
