NEW ZEALAND: ALTERNATIVE VIEWS

Boot camp “only solution for youth offending” says watchdog

Taxpayer-funded boot camp for all young New Zealanders is the only way to curb a youth offending crime wave, a justice watchdog said today. The Sensible Sentencing Trust has slammed the way youth offending is dealt with, and said officials should "wake up to the fact that the politically correct experiment has failed".

Police, Ministry of Justice and Child, Youth and Family and other officials met over the weekend to discuss the shortage of youth justice beds, which has led to teenagers being held in police cells.
But Trust spokesman Garth McVicar said the meeting was a waste of time. "Until we get back to basics and get rid of this 'rights' based nonsense and return to a `responsibility' based family-focused society, nothing will change," he said. "The short term solution to this problem is to reintroduce compulsory military training right now. These kids need to be taught discipline, respect and accountability, and they need it yesterday."

He said military training for at risk youths aged 15-16 should begin immediately, but he would like to phase in training for all New Zealanders in the next three years. "When they start to get into trouble, a majority seem to be 15 to 16-years-old. (We should) get to them before they really get into trouble." Mr McVicar said the programme should be funded by the taxpayer, as it will be beneficial to everyone.

There are 102 youth justice beds between Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch, but last month 52 young people were forced to spend time in police cells. Temporary options discussed at Saturday's meeting included greater use of supervised bail, supported bail in the community, ankle bracelets, community/family homes, and better use of existing beds.

31 May 2006

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3685871a6160,00.html

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