A positive initial review of a pilot year-long youth justice boot camp - after its first three months - is not enough to count the plan as a success, the chief children's commissioner says. Photo: 123RF
- The children's commissioner says an independent evaluation of the government's military style academies for youth justice offenders is not enough to condone the approach
- Those children and young people have experienced abuse, trauma, and neglect, and a military approach does more harm than good, she says
- The "short, initial evaluation" covered only the three months residential component of the year-long programme
- No evidence internationally or locally that the approach works in the long term, and the government should focus on prevention and rehabilitative programmes.
The government should not push ahead to enshrine military style academies into youth justice law, the children's commissioner says, despite its first bootcamp getting a glowing report.
Oranga Tamariki has released the first independent evaluation of the first trial camp, which was held last year in Palmerston North.
The report rates the pilot well compared with a regular programme at a youth justice facility, saying it was good for rangatahi.
Chief Children's Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad said work needed to be done in the youth justice system to prevent offending but a military-style approach to youth justice "is simply not needed".
There was no evidence that the approach worked in the long term, and the government should focus on prevention and rehabilitative programmes, she added.
"The fact remains that the government should not be progressing with writing a military-style Academy into our youth justice law. There is no evidence that military approaches to youth justice work in the long term, and the government can and must focus instead on investing in prevention and rehabilitative pro programmes that will help young people to get back on to that more positive pathway."
The "short, initial evaluation" covered only the three months residential component of the year-long programme, she said: "It's not enough to go on. The government must not progress any further right now with this military style approach to youth justice, it's not needed now. It's not needed in the future.
"We know what works and that is focusing on prevention, early intervention and rehabilitative approaches to justice so young people can be on a more positive pathway in the future."
The children and young people who were in the youth justice system had experienced "abuse, trauma, neglect and high deprivation in their life", she said.
"Disciplinary approaches, without fully addressing trauma, mental health and whānau needs, does not create lasting change. Evidence shows it can cause more harm.
"It will take time to really help these young people to be on a more positive pathway, and the evidence shows that community based, therapeutic, preventative and restorative justice coaches are what works, not putting young people into youth justice institutions for longer periods of time."
Achmad said the government should invest in intensively resourcing support. "So that every young person in our justice system has wrap-around, rehabilitative support, not this military style academy programme. [It] simply isn't necessary."
