Meet the disaster: New Zealand's youth justice jurisdiction

Abstract

This paper critically analyses the current youth justice system and whether the upper age of the system should extend to include 17 year-olds. This paper also analyses care and protection in New Zealand. This is because youth justice issues, and care and protection issues, tend to intertwine as a number of children and young people who are in care are also involved in the youth justice system. The Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 requires amendment to extend the upper age of youth justice, for reasons such as its failure to adequately provide for vulnerable children and young people in New Zealand, reduce offending and reoffending rates, and support Māori and Pacifica. More changes than one are required, but extending the jurisdiction to include 17 year olds will help to achieve issues such as: New Zealand’s international obligations regarding the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, domestic legislative inconsistencies, brain science, community involvement, employment, prevention, high Māori offending rates, recidivism, public attitude, better public service targets, cost, volume in the system, and the perception of the youth justice system being soft on crime. Overall, increasing the upper age of youth justice in New Zealand will be a significant and sufficient long term investment.