NEW ZEALAND

'Family homes' for young criminals

Young criminals and those facing charges could stay in supervised "family homes" to ease a chronic bed shortage in youth justice facilities. Principal Youth Court judge Andrew Becroft is supporting the plan, which will allow more young offenders to remain in the community.

Child, Youth and Family is spearheading initiatives allowing more young offenders to live on supported bail or staying in "family homes", after a meeting with key agencies, including Judge Becroft and Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro. Supported bail, introduced last year, provides community support and services, including activity-based day programmes, for teens on remand for alleged offending.

The meeting followed an outcry over a shortage of beds in youth justice facilities, which has forced judges to remand young offenders to police cells. Other proposals include:

• Freeing up 15 beds in existing facilities by year's end.
• Increased use of supported bail.
• Greater use of supervised family homes.
• Developing a protocol to assess the risk of placement options.

CYF chief executive Peter Hughes said the agency aimed to have no youths in police cells for longer than 24 hours. Judge Becroft said: "The earlier a young person is institutionalised the harder it is to ever remove them from the formalised institution for life."

Family homes with "around the clock supervision" were an exciting development, he said. "Kids aren't free to come and go as they choose. They are looked after every second of the day that are not (in a training course)." Such homes had operated effectively in New Zealand in the early 1990s but the erosion of the youth justice system had seen many close, he said.

The Government will spend an extra $10 million on youth justice after a damning review this year, which said the sector had been neglected and underfunded. "If the community home supported bail options work as well as we think they will – and they do overseas – we may not even need another big-scale youth justice residence."

But Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar said he would not support a major shift from secure facilities – particularly for repeat or violent offenders – without cast-iron restrictions. "I have a huge problem with recidivist offenders being given another opportunity, they have a choice and need to be held accountable for their actions and that's what's lacking in our youth justice system at present." But Dr Kiro said the proposals made much more sense for young people because they were flexible. For many – particularly those under 12 or young girls – it was not appropriate to lock them in a youth facility.

Anna Chalmers
4 August 2006

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3753282a11,00.html

 
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