Boot camp teen allegedly re-offends weeks after leaving facility

Thursday, 21 November 2024

Children’s Minister Karen Chhour says one of the 10 teenagers who took part in the first military-style boot camp has allegedly re-offended, just a few weeks after leaving the facility.

The teenage boy was still serving a community sentence when, it is alleged, he re-offended.

News of the alleged offending was revealed on Thursday, a few hours before Chhour was set to introduce new legislation to Parliament to support the military-style boot camps programme.

Parliament was set to debate a new bill that would give specific powers to the youth court to sentence young people to a bootcamp, and give staff at those facilities more powers. Those powers would include the ability to use force to detain the young prisoners.

Chhour said it was disappointing that one of the young people who took part in the pilot had allegedly offended.

“I’m saddened that this young person has not taken this opportunity at a second chance,” she said.

“I am confident the residential stage of the Military-Style Academy pilot is having success. Several of the boys left the programme with jobs already lined up. Each one has a mentor who is working with them and there is intensive, tailored support for each young person.”

Earlier in the year, one of the teenagers opted not to continue in the bootcamp programme. He was replaced with another young person.

The young offenders spent three months at a youth justice facility and were released into a “residential phase” of the programme on October 16.

The programme was set up to take in teenagers deemed “serious young offenders”: repeat offenders under the age of 18 who had been involved in crimes such as aggravated assault or robbery.