Boot camp critics miss the point

Critics of so-called "boot camps" have missed the point of the Government's plans for youth justice reforms, Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett said today.

"The criticisms, aired by several groups at the Social Services select committee today, show fundamental misunderstandings of the Government's Fresh Start programme of far-reaching changes to the way we deal with young offenders," Ms Bennett said.

"The narrow focus on boot camps by the media and critics has, I believe, misled the public. Let me make it clear: we are not lurching back to the days of packing all bad kids off to boot camps en masse for ‘corrective training.' That has been tried and failed, here and elsewhere.

"The military-style activity camps we plan will be fundamentally different from past models - and they will be just one of many new options available to the courts for dealing with the worst young offenders. What's more, they're changes the judiciary has been asking for," Ms Bennett said.

"We envisage the camps will be small, dealing with only the most troubled offenders who will be referred after other options have been tried. Unlike past approaches, there will be extensive follow-up after the offenders leave camp. Many similar schemes are showing good results, such as MYND in Auckland, Canterbury Youth Development, and Start Taranaki, to name a few.

"Fresh Start recognises that kids go bad for a lot of reasons: families that don't care, drugs and alcohol, and so on. To turn them around, we have to find solutions that meet the needs of each young person.

"Under Fresh Start, new programmes including mentoring, drug and alcohol counselling, and compulsory parenting courses will be available to the judiciary as sentencing and rehabilitation options. We are developing these programmes now, and I look forward to announcing more details as they come together."