Election 2017 - Party Policies - Justice, Law and Order - Youth Justice
27th May 17, 9:22am
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Youth Justice
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- Raise the age of criminal responsibility in line with UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and include 17 year olds in the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act.
- Ensure young people under 18 deprived of their liberty are not held in police cells or mixed with adults outside of their family.
- Support the establishment of smaller scale, dispersed Youth Rehabilitation Centres. Implement the Government’s 2002 Youth Development Strategy through all youth justice facilities and youth prison units.
- Ensure increased resources for Family Group Conferences and training for FGC convenors.
- Ensure Maori tikanga and reo programmes are included in prisons and youth justice centres, enable iwi and hapu collaboration in prison management, and support models of Maori justice systems for young offenders.
- Read more here.
- Invest in youth justice centres and programmes to reduce youth offending.
- Ensure the full implementation of international justice standards for young people, including that young persons are detained separately from adults and that detention is a last resort.
- Ensure that alternatives to prison are available and utilised at both the sentencing and remand stage. This includes: investing in youth justice centres to ensure that beds are available when needed.
- Read more here.
Not yet available on their website.
- Create a new category of young offenders – Young Serious Offenders (YSOs); and give MVCOT and the Police the power to detain young serious offenders.
- Remove the eligibility for YSOs to be referred to a Family Group Conference; and YSOs of 14 or older who commit subsequent serious offences will be subject to automatic transfer to the adult court system.
- Create Training and Development orders to be served at a defence-led Junior Training Academy, based at Waioru.
- Give Police the ability to issue instant infringement notices (instant fines) to parents for children under the age of 14 who are out walking the streets or without adult supervision between the hours of 12 and 5am.
- Offer a contestable $30m fund for local community groups with programmes that seek to reduce reoffending.
- Read more here.
- Reverse National’s raising the age of criminal responsibility (supported by Labour) to 18; and require greater parental responsibility for young offenders.
- Overhaul the youth justice system and introduce Demerit Points to be scaled with the current Seriousness Scale. The more serious the crime, the more Demerit Points which will accrue (ranging from 0-100).
- With lower level crimes for first-time offenders (offences or offenders), the focus is on assessment, support and guidance for the youth (including learning needs) as well as their parents.
- With higher level crimes, or multiple re-offences, a higher number of Demerit Points will accrue leading to a far more serious response including Family Group Conferences, Youth Court or District Court.
- When any youth offender has accrued 80 or more points, and/or committed a serious enough offence, they will go directly to Youth Court. Any subsequent offending at any level will be heard in District Court.
- Read more here.
- Expand the Social Workers in Schools Programme beyond decile 1-3 schools.
- Resource alternative education providers to work with at-risk youth who have dropped out of mainstream schooling.
- Ensure that schools implement anti-bullying strategies, safe classroom programmes and policies in consultation with the police and other agencies.
- Increase funding for appropriate early intervention supervision and diversionary programmes for youth at risk.
- Foster co-operation and information sharing between police, courts, schools, community groups and social services when dealing with at-risk families and youth.
- Read more here.
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