Is youth crime really a growing problem and what can be done about it?

Friday, 29 April 2022

Youth crime has dominated national headlines this week, with stories of ramraids and break-ins peppered across the media. Stuff speaks to Oranga Tamariki and people working at the flax-roots level about what is going on and possible solutions.

“Police are shocked after four youths, one as young as 7, were caught attempting to steal from a Hamilton shopping centre overnight.”

That was the first sentence of a statement released on Thursday by the New Zealand Police, following a break-in at Chartwell, a Hamilton shopping centre, in the early hours of the morning.

The four children aged between 7 and 12 were discovered at the scene holding stolen toys.

**READ MORE:

* CCTV shows children stealing cigarettes from dairy, officer with Taser drawn

* Burglar gang, youngest 7, caught in night-time toy raid at shopping centre

* Auckland store owner sleeps in his shop, glued to CCTV, after five attacks

**

In the days and weeks prior, stories of fearful shop owners had filtered through the media after a spate of high-profile ramraids and robberies.

Rangatahi and youth justice

Ben Hannifin is the director of Youth Justice System Development at Oranga Tamariki.

He said young people involved in offending like ramraids tended to have huge complexities most teenagers in Aotearoa would never experience.

About 80% of the young offenders Oranga Tamariki worked with had been the victim of family violence, according to Hannifin.

“They’re 10 times more likely to have a psychiatric disorder, over 90% of them have a learning disability and probably the most challenged, is on average at least two traumatic life events…”

But by no means were these rangatahi beyond redemption, said Hannifin.

Rather, it was about understanding their needs and providing wraparound support to move away from offending.

“You look at these ramraids, they’re not doing it for monetary gain, are they? They’re causing a heap of damage and a heap of risk for a couple of packs of cigarettes and some toys or some lollies.”

What happens afterwards?

Depending on the age of the young person, Hannifin said there was a range of options for dealing with offending.

“The Youth Court jurisdiction is from 13 up to the 18th birthday, so there’s a pretty clear pathway for that age bracket.”

Once arrested, Hannifin said those young people were referred to Oranga Tamariki alongside a few other organisations.

“The typical process is family group conference which is pretty standard and tried-and-true process to really understand what the needs are and what impact the offence has had on the victims and community.

“So the victims are invited and are encouraged, and hopefully they’ll attend that process where they kind of talk about the impact the offence has had on them or on their business.”

Hannifin said the young person’s family would also attend to discuss what kind of impact the behaviour had on them and possible support that may be needed.

A plan would then be formed to present to a Youth Court judge, and any further investigations that may be needed surrounding concerns like mental health or function could be commissioned.

Ultimately, Hannifin said a decision was made in court on how best to manage the young person.

For offenders under the age of 13, it was a similar process without the court aspect.

An adult who thinks the world of them

Youth worker and manager of the Zeal Education Trust, Hadleigh Pouesi, believed there was a range of causes for the recent spike in youth crime.

Covid stress paired with hopelessness and other struggles had come to a head, but youth crime on the whole was not a new phenomenon, Pouesi said.

“There are generations of inequality, there are socio-economic factors, there’s a ton of different things that come into play that cause this space where young people are having to revert to crime.”

For Pouesi, his goal for rangatahi was that every single one had an adult who thought the world of them.

That is where the solution to youth crime could lie, but it wasn’t easy to achieve, he said.

“I’ve been reading a lot of social commentary around ‘the parents have failed these young people’. I’ve read a lot social commentary around ‘the system has failed these young people’.

“At the end of the day, there’s so many different things that have caused this breakdown, and is causing crime to basically be … an outward manifestation of some of what we are seeing.”

Pouesi also believed positive programming and extracurricular activities run by strong role models could help stop young people getting involved in crime.

“If we can get more positive role models around these young people, whether they know that they’re positive role models or not, I think that we then lessen the gaps for young people to fall into crime.”

Listening to young people

Ashley​ Shearar​ from Voyce​ Whakarongo Mai said it was important to create caring and loving conditions for tamariki and rangatahi so that they felt safe to talk about what was going on with them.

“And to hear from them what their solutions are, and also when they’re not in a heightened state,” she said.

Once those solutions had been identified, Shearar said communities needed to ensure they were receptive to them and willing to respond.

Young people knew what would work and the only way to get the insights needed was to hear from them directly, said Shearar.

Overall, is youth crime on the rise?

The short answer: No.

Youth crime has been tracking down for a long time, with the latest Youth Justice Indicators Summary Report revealing offending rates among tamariki aged 10 to 13 fell by 65% between 2010/11 and 2020/21.

In that same period, offending rates among rangatahi decreased by 63%.

“There has definitely been a spike in the ramraids in Auckland over the last few months, but still the trajectory for youth crime overall nationally is down,” says Hannifin.

“It’s actually a pretty good news story, but I get it, when you look at the paper today or over the last few days it doesn’t resonate, or it doesn’t ring true…”

However, youth do dominate the statistics when it comes to ramraids.

In a statement earlier this month, the Police Assistant Commissioner, Richard Chambers, said national intelligence showed 88% of offenders involved in ramraid-style burglaries were under the age of 20.

He went on to state the majority were actually under the age of 17.

“As a clear youth offending issue, this is wider than police,” said Chambers in the statement.

“We need our communities to work alongside us and partner agencies to support young people onto a better path.”