People who commission or reward children and young people to offend, and people who post offending behaviour online, are firmly in the government's sights as Prime Minister Chris Hipkins unveiled a first tranche of government law and order.
Hipkins told the post-cabinet press conference today while many young people used social media to broadcast their crimes to gain notoriety, many crimes were carried out at the direction of adults, particularly those involved in organised crime.
"Using a child to commit a crime is cowardly, exploitative and it destroys lives. So the consequences for that should be serious."
The government would create a new offence to reflect the rhetoric, targeting anyone who commissioned or rewarded youth offending with a jail sentence of up to 10 years.
Hipkins said posting offending behaviour online would also become an aggravating factor in sentencing under the new changes. The so-called social media amendments would apply to both youth and adult offenders and provide courts with extra considerations when sentencing.
"It's becoming increasingly common for offenders to post videos of their criminal behaviour online to show to their friends and their followers."
More accountability to victims
Hipkins also said some young offenders, those over 10 years of age, could face the prospect of undertaking community work, with the Family Court being allowed to require such consequences. Currently, the Family Court can only request such activities.
The court would also be able to require the person to attend an “educational, recreational or activity programme” with the intention of re-engaging them with education.
“None of this is about locking up children and perpetuating the cycle of crime,” Hipkins said. “It’s about accountability and consequences to help break the cycle of offending.”
Victims would also be entitled to attend care and protection family group conferences for the first time in relation to children over 10 with offending behaviours.
"It will force those young offenders to confront the victims whose lives they are harming."
Prosecution increase
An extra $26m will be given to the Prosecution Service to increase the number of prosecutors with the aim of clearing the backlog of cases before the district courts.
Hipkins said it would allow an extra 78 staff to work on police prosecutions.
The underlying factors of the causes of crime, and investing in programmes that work to break the cycle of offending, underpin the government's law and order policy package.
"Prevention, protection and accountability - that is our focus," he said.
Gang crackdown working, more to come
Hipkins said the government would also continue with policies that were working to stamp out organised crime, particularly gangs. He says more than 40,000 charges have been laid against gang members under Operation Cobalt.
"Gangs need to hear the message loud and clear that they can not act with impunity. The balance has shifted; there are consequences for their actions. The New Zealand community has had enough of this kind of offending. So have I."
Hipkins, however, conceded the changes might not be passed before Parliament rises at the end of August before the election.
"If we can do it before the election, I certainly would like to do that. I think it won't pass through all of the stages before the election, so it will have to carry on into the next term."
