Social Justice Aotearoa CEO Jackie Foster said, “Youth offending is out of control, and will only worsen if this labour government abolishes the Children Commissioners role”.
“We repeatedly focus on the children committing these crimes, but what needs to be happening is that we need to start focusing on the family structure, if any, that theses youth offenders are part of” Jackie said.
A well-structured family environment for all children is a basic right and need, and without that, things will never be right. Children need to feel loved, nurtured, respected and without those three vital rights, things get out of control quickly.
The Children’s Commissioner has a vital independent role in all of the above and we know she is working hard to give the troubled youth of Aotearoa the voice and help that they so desperately need, which once again highlights the concern we have with Carmel Sepuloni proposing to abolish the office and role of the children’s commissioner.
Not sure that the lack of oversight from a CC will impact YJ outcomes greatly. It is more likely to impact on outcomes in care and protection, although substantial internal changes within OT since the Hastings uplift debacle, are likely to mitigate this to some extent.
“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”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300576087/is-youth-crime-really-a-growing-problem-and-what-can-be-done-about-it
The real issue, as always, is structural (poverty) and a perceived ‘lack of hope for the future’. Once poverty and equity issues are addressed more effectively then youth offending, criminal offending generally, and a raft of negative social and health outcomes will begin to ‘resolve’. But we didn’t get into this situation overnight and it will take time to resolve. Currently the political capital to drive change is inadequate (which is reflected the current popularity of ACT and a resurgent National party) – expect YJ offending (and many negative social and health indicators) to deteriorate severely if the Nat’s and ACT (ironic name for a political party that seek to do anything but actually act) are re-elected to power because their mantra of “let the market solve all our woes” is unlikely to suddenly come to fruition as this has been demonstrably ineffective in our history to date.
It’s a great shame that the National Party doesn’t seem to have a Shadow Minister for Children. per se, to keep Labour’s Kelvin Davis on his big feet and answering for his inexplicable silence about his government’s determination to destroy the best voice which this country’s vulnerable and damaged children ever had.
Surely it would be appropriate to hear comment from the Minister of Corrections, Kelvin Davis, about the likely effects of abolishing the Commissioner for Children.
In fact it would be doubly appropriate considering that Kelvin Davis is also the Minister for Children. Surely he would not be leaving these sort of momentous decisions to public servants with zero responsibility for outcomes.