KEY POINTS:
A strategy targeting youth offending does not address violence, a committee of MPs considering lowering the age of criminal responsibility heard yesterday.
Parliament's law and order select committee is considering NZ First MP Ron Mark's member's bill, the Young Offenders (Serious Crimes) Bill, which would lower the age of criminal responsibility to 10, although he has agreed to amend that to 12.
Officials were invited to the committee to tell MPs about initiatives under the youth offending strategy.
National MP Simon Power asked how the strategy was tackling violent offending to which Justice Ministry manager of youth justice Rob Handyside said there was an increase in violent offending across society, not just within youth.
"The youth offending strategy doesn't particularly address violent offending. When it was developed in 2002 there wasn't a trend showing an increase, so the strategy itself is silent in respect to that."
Mr Mark said that was surprising in light of the cases of high-profile child criminals Bailey Kurariki and Renee Kara O'Brien.
Kurariki was 12 when he was convicted of the manslaughter of Auckland pizza deliverer Michael Choy who was beaten to death with a baseball bat in 2001.
O'Brien was convicted of murder at 14 for the hammer attack that killed Kenneth Pigott, a truck driver, in Waitara, near New Plymouth, in March 2002.
New Zealand police Superintendent Bill Harrison said police were concerned at the increase in violent offending.
"We are seeing a variety of violent crime, robberies for example. We are seeing family violence increases, and each of those have sets of dynamics that are different and will have different drivers."
Part of the rise in family violence could be due to an increase in prosecutions, rather than a rise in offences, he said.
Ministry of Social Development principal adviser Ross Mackay said a small group of youth - about 5 per cent - whose problems started early in life were hardest to tackle.
Other youth offenders tended to commit a small number or one crime then grew out of the behaviour.
Those whose mothers smoked or drank before they were born could suffer development problems and other problems could be sparked by poor parenting early in life.
Mr Mackay described a "trajectory" where disadvantaged youths developed aggression early in life, struggled in school because of it and ended up becoming part of an anti-social group.
"There is a small sub group of young people that have a very bad start to life, it puts them on a trajectory where they are simply not able to cope normally within the normal range of behaviours. We end up getting progressively more into a situation where their response is aggression and violence."
He said this group produced the serious persistent violent offenders.
The committee was told early intervention programmes were targeting high risk families.
Health Ministry principal technical specialist Basia Arnold said other initiatives included a programme, announced this week, to work with kids with severe anti-social problems. It also contained home visiting, parenting programmes, and checks on kids before they started school.
Education Ministry operational policy manager Jim Matheson said it was working with schools to try reduce suspensions and expulsions and keep problem kids learning.
- NZPA
