KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's only secure unit for young sex offenders has succeeded in largely stopping subsequent sexual offending - but has failed dramatically to stop the youngsters committing other crimes.
The first evaluation of the 12-bed unit near Christchurch, Te Poutama Arahi Rangatahi ("The Steps to Guide Youth"), has found that only three of the first 41 youths who left the unit since it opened in 1999 committed sexual offences again by January last year.
But 31 - three-quarters - of the youths committed other offences, including 21 whose crimes were classed as "serious" such as assault and aggravated robbery. Fourteen, or a third of all the youngsters, ended up in jail.
The 200-page evaluation by Victoria University's Crime and Justice Research Centre was based on interviewing staff, other professionals, family members and all except two of the 33 youths admitted to the unit between May 2002 and December 2005.
The study was completed last August but was only published this week by Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS).
The unit is operated by Barnardos under a contract with CYFS. The unit manager, Helen Alice, said staff accepted that the unit had been less effective at stopping non-sexual offending and needed to widen its focus.
"The evaluation is very clearly challenging us to think about moving away from what was 10 years ago considered the way to work with this client group, using a cognitive-behavioural approach, and much more looking at the whole person," she said.
"We are very much aiming to embrace that, and are of the view that best practice internationally is now taking the same view."
The evaluation found that the vast majority of the boys came from tragic family backgrounds. Only eight out of 43 had ever lived with both their biological parents. Half had no or minimal contact with their fathers. Three-quarters had been passed from one caregiver to another at least once, and two had been moved more than 20 times. More than 80 per cent had suffered either confirmed or suspected sexual abuse themselves. A quarter had tried to commit suicide. Two died during the evaluation period.
The evaluation found that, for many boys, Te Poutama was "their first experience of living in a safe, caring family environment". Almost all (87 per cent) said they felt safe there. One boy said: "You feel safe. People don't hit you like my dad did."
Another said: "They help and support you. I can now talk to people with respect."
All except two boys said the programme helped with their sexual offending. More than three-quarters said they learnt more at school at Te Poutama, with major gains in both literacy and numeracy. Almost three-quarters said they learned life skills such as cooking.
But the report found that it "cannot reach a conclusion" about whether the unit actually reduced sexual offending, because most adolescent sex offenders do not reoffend sexually as adults anyway. A 2006 review found an average sexual reoffending rate for adolescent treatment programmes internationally of 10 per cent, compared to Te Poutama's indicated rate of 7-10 per cent.
TE POUTAMA
* NZ's only secure unit for adolescent sex offenders.
* Opened in 1999 near Christchurch.
* Provides two-year treatment for 12 of NZ's highest-risk sex offenders aged 12 to 16.
* Only 3 of the first 41 youths who left the unit reoffended sexually by January 2007.
* But 31 out of 41 committed other crimes.
