Dr Ian Lambie
Department of Psychology
University of Auckland
Dr John Langley
Chief Executive
Cognition Education
Quotations
 “The children of today are tyrants. They talk back to their
elders, slobber their food and annoy their teachers.
Socrates (469-399 BC)
 “There are a number of children running about the streets of
Dunedin…without the control of parents. If the government does
not take them in hand…they will become…members of a criminal
class.”
Otago Daily Times 1884
 “There is a definite relationship between the increase in the
number of children on the streets and the increase in juvenile
crime.”
Otago Daily Times 1886
The point
 “Every generation seems to believe that those
who follow at are somehow less righteous, less
moral and more poorly educated than they are. In
almost every case they are wrong”
Dr John Langley
Some facts
 Currently:
◦ Children aged 10-13 can not be prosecuted except for murder of
manslaughter. Where a child’s offending raises concern about their wellbeing,
the offending is addressed under the care and protection jurisdiction of the
Family Court, which can lead to a CYFS Family Group Conference (FGC) and, if
unresolved or defended, a Family Court hearing.
◦ For other offences children are dealt with through a warning contact with
family or CYFS FGC which could lead to a Family Court hearing. This is on the
assumption that the offending is related to care and protection matters.
◦ Young people aged 14-18 are dealt with through Police Youth Aid, diversion,
and FGC or could appear before the Youth Court.
◦ 15 and 16 year olds will first appear in the Youth Court but can be
transferred to District (adult) Court for sentencing on serious charges.
◦ Young people who offend as 17 year olds are treat as an adult for the
purposes of criminal law.
◦ Charges of murder of manslaughter are always finally dealt with in the adult
criminal system.
Source: UNICEF NZ Summary Position Paper
Some facts
 There is no youth crime “epidemic”
◦ Youth offending has not increased but has remained stable
over the 10 years 1997-2006 (22% of total offending).
◦ Youth property offending was the lowest recorded in the
years 1995-2006.
◦ 10-13 year olds have the lowest rate of apprehension for all
types of offences, other than property.
◦ Violent offences by 10-13 year olds reduced by 10.79% in the
years 1997-2006 but there was an increase in violent
offences for 14-16 year olds in recent years.
◦ The total youth apprehension rate over years 1995-2006 was
the lowest recorded at 1,591 per 10,000 population.
◦ 80% of young offenders commit 20% of all offending. This
group is likely to stop offending after appropriate
apprehension and intervention
Some facts
 Changes in Violent Offences
 Violent offences in the overall population increased
in the last 10 years by 22%.
 Violent offences by young people increased but
remain a relatively small proportion (12% in 2006)
of all offences by young people.
 There was a 39% increase in serious violent
offences by young people in the last 10 years most
often committed in the company of older
offenders.
Some facts
 Recidivism
5-15% of total number of youth offenders commits 40-50% of all
offences. They are the group who are most at risk of becoming
recidivist adult criminals.
◦ Those who continue to offend have a number of distinguishing
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characteristics:
83% are male.
70% are not at school – most are not even enrolled at a secondary
school.
Most experience family dysfunction, disadvantage and lack of positive
male role models.
Many have some form of psychological disorder or specific learning
disability, e.g. dyslexia.
At 50% are Maori. In some Youth Courts the Maori appearance rate is
90%.
Some facts
 Youth Offenders
80% commit 20% of all offences
◦ Will age out of offending
◦ Commit at least one crime
◦ Tend to start later in adolescence, after 13
◦ Stop offending by age 24-28
◦ 75% dealt by the Police Youth Aid Section
◦ 33% involved in FGC do not re-offend at all.
◦ 22% involved in FGC re-offend in a very minor
◦ At least 50% are Maori and in some Youth Courts the Maori
appearance rate is 90%
◦ Together with their families, show a range of problems that included
substance abuse, criminal behaviour, accommodation difficulties,
poverty, unemployment, mental health problems, violence, neglect and
abuse of every type imaginable, poor education
Both groups commit serious offences, but the latter tend to commit
more of them, partly because the commit crimes at a high rate over a
long period.
Some facts
5-15% commit 60% of all offences
◦ Are at risk of becoming recidivist adult criminals
◦ Start early – before age 14 and as early as 10
◦ Offend at high rates
◦ Only 30% commit crimes of violence
◦ 83% are male
◦ 70% are not at school – most not even enrolled at a
secondary school
◦ Most experience family dysfunction and disadvantage
and lack positive male role models
◦ Many have some form of psychological disorder or
specific learning disability, e.g. dyslexia
What doesn’t work
◦ “Getting tough” interventions (boot camps, scared straight,
shock probation, paramilitary training) almost always fail.
Punishment and detention are not effective forms of
rehabilitation
◦ The greatest change in expected re-offending rates for
persistent offenders was not achieved through deterrent
sentencing. Likelihood of re-offending increases 25% after a
deterrent sentence.
Robert Ludbrook (Child Rights Lawyer) points out that while the
call for harsher penalties for young offenders and the proposal
that children as young as 12 years be dealth with in the adult
criminal system may attract some public support, these
measures will not reduce youth offending and will take New
Zealand in the opposite direction to that proposed by
international and national human rights bodies.
What doesn’t work
 Punishment increases the likelihood of re-offending
When children come into contact with the adult criminal justice system, there are
negative psychological and behavioural consequences
for them:
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Verbal, physical, sexual and emotional abuse is likely for young people in
detention who are:
 Imprisoned for the first time
 Small
 From a middle class background
 Effeminate in behaviour
 Lacking “streetwise” knowledge
Incarceration breaks the spirit. Longer tem rehabilitation prospects are made
more difficult
Being held up to public vilification is destructive, again inhibiting rehabilitation
Juveniles in adult prisons are at greater risk of suicide
Appearing in adult court demonstrably decreases the changes of rehabilitation
Factors to consider
 Overseas Jurisdiction – Official Age of Criminal Responsibility
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Age
Selected Country
7
Tasmania (OZ), Bangladesh, Ireland, Kuwait, Pakistan, Sudan, Zimbabwe
8
Scotland
10
Australia: most states, New Zealand, UK (except Scotland), some US-States
12
Canada
13
Chad, France, Poland
14
Austria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Libya, Romania, Russia,
Fed. Rwanda, Slovenia, Yemen, Yugoslavia
15
Czech Rep., Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sudan, Sweden
16
Argentina, Portugal, Spain
18
Belgium, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico
Reducing the age of criminality would be a breach of the UN’s Rights of the Child
Locking children and young people away from society not only does not work but slows a lack of vision
for a modern democratic society
Punitive intervention (while increasing by advocated) does not work
Prevention and early intervention work best78y677
Key Challenges
 Knowing what “success” looks like
 Identifying what works to achieve success?
 Transition – maintenance of newly learning
behaviour
 Interface between the
intervention/home/community/school
 Accountability – who and for what
 Resources – workforce, effective targeting
Three Facts
 Kids with chronic conduct/behavioural problems
are the single most costly group of adolescents to
society
 1. Unresponsive to treatment 20-40% for routine
treatments
 2. 60% poor prognosis – adult criminals, antisocial
personality disorder, psychology, poor mental,
psychological, physical health outcomes
 3. Inter-generationally transmitted
What Happens at the moment
in New Zealand?
 Few evidenced based programmes
 Most programmes that say they are evidenced
based are relying upon the overseas studies, not
their own
 Most programmes employ staff that have
insufficient training
 Too many kids in residences
The Real Gaps in New Zealand
 1. Early intervention : not enough, poorly funded, no
evaluation, not enough evidenced based programmes
 2. Kids 8 – 12: lack of services, no evaluation, lack of
evidenced based programmes
 3. Females – lack of services, no evaluation, lack of
evidenced based programmes
 4. Maori and PI programmes - lack of services, no
evaluation, lack of integration of evidenced based
programmes
So what should we do?
 Campaign on the issues in the media
 Provide a counter story to the sensible sentencing
trust
 Know our stuff and be honest with ourselves re
what we are providing as treatment programmes.
Don’t kid ourselves that aroha and awhi will
change these kids alone. IT WON’T!!
So what should we do?
 Fund what works as opposed to funding what
DOESN’T work
 Implement Evidenced Based Services
A range of services that is evidenced based and
tailored to the risk and developmental needs of the
child. Within this, it needs to be culturally sensitiven
and remember FAMILY is central.
 Well trained staff
At the moment there is little, if any specialist training
in NZ to work with kids with severe behavioural
disorders
Case example of funding what works
 CYF and community treatment programmes adolescent
sex offender sector
 High risk area - long term financial investment in the
sector – 10 years ago
 Funding for a 3 year independent evaluation to be
undertaken
 Produced results indicating that what they did was not
perfect but as good, if not better than other
international programmes. Provided a Blueprint of
where services needed to go
What do we need?
 FAMILY BASED INTERVENTIONS
 Multidimensional Therapeutic
Fostercare (MTFC)
 Multi-systemic Therapy
 Functional Family Therapy
Workforce
 Train staff to address criminogenic needs
 Roll out FFT across the country to all services
 Train staff in individual strategies –ie aggression
replacement training
 One off trainings might feel good but don’t produce
long term changes in practice
 Provide ongoing quality assurance training and
supervision (e.g., Police PEACE interviewing model)
 Train more Clinical Psychologists
 Train Social Workers in Clinical Practice
 Provide specialist training to RTLBs and teachers
 And so on……….
NZ Herald
st
21
February 2009
 “The Government should be applauded
for addressing youth crime but the
success of the proposed programmes
hinges on the effective co-ordination of
resourcing, probably best handled by a
lead agency. It must invest in staff
capable of handling issues not solved by
a good bollocking”
Its all about you
and me……… nothing is impossible
Questions
Good afternoon & thanks for coming
“If it was easy it wouldn’t be worth doing”
- John F. Kennedy