Community Leaders raise alarm over Boot Camp Bill / A.J. Hendry

The Boot Camp Bill legislates risk for our children, fast tracking children into prison, and increasing the risk of abuse in state care...

This week over 20 children’s rights and youth development organizations – including organizations such as VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai, YouthLaw, Zeal and (the organization I lead) Kick Back – wrote to the Prime Minister to raise significant concerns about the controversial “Boot Camp Bill” (Oranga Tamariki [Responding to Serious Youth Offending] Amendment Bill) currently going through parliament.

The bill does two things, one it creates the legislative framework to allow the Government to expand and develop a military themed youth prison (currently being called the Military Style Academy or MSA by the Government), and two it creates a new category for children who have come into conflict with the law (the Young Serious Offender category). This category gives the courts and police more power over children, allowing important community interventions and safeguard’s (such as Family Group Conferences) to be skipped over in order to fast track children into prison.

It is important for the public to understand that the Military Style Academy pilot (the MSA), the Boot Camp Bill, and what the Government is saying about both, are all different things.

To be fair, Oranga Tamariki have done some important work attempting to use the pilot to improve on the current Youth Prison model operating in NZ.

The MSA pilot has included a focus on wrap around support (both during the program, and in the entry and exit), with Oranga Tamariki appearing to do their best (within the confines the Government set for them), to ensure therapeutic and evidence based supports were in place for these children, while significantly toning down the military style model the Government originally campaigned on.

The government is now using this work to allay fears about the Boot Camp Bill currently progressing through parliament. The problem is that the legislation and the pilot are not the same thing. The legislation has been pulled together hastily before a proper review of the pilot has taken place, and as a result, there are significant concerns that some of the key elements which experts hoped would increase the likelihood of success and mitigate harm for children appear to have been stripped from the program.

For example the pilot was able to involve whānau and children in the decision making process, allowing both to consent before a child entered the program. It had a strong focus on the transition (in and out), was cohort based (meaning the children were able to start together at the same time and move through the program together), and was restricted to a small group of children (allowing Oranga Tamariki to build the program around them and ensuring that each child received the intensive support they needed). Perhaps most significantly, it dramatically toned down the militarized aspect of the program, favouring therapeutic supports and interventions.

Many experts still maintain that a focus on community level solutions, and early intervention would have been a more effective use of resources, however it’s important to note that youth prisons (often called youth justice residences) have existed under subsequent Governments, and the MSA pilot represented a significant improvement in the status quo.

And yet, instead of allowing the pilot to run its course and take the care to analyse and independently review the program, the Government has rushed ahead with legislating Military Style Youth Prisons. Unlike the pilot the legislation will mean that Oranga Tamariki will need to bring a much larger group of children into the program (raising concerns about the resources available to Oranga Tamariki to be able to manage this safely). The bill will strip the element of choice out of the program, will legislate the use of militarized methodologies (without clearly defined safeguards or limits around this), and will make it easier for police and the courts to push children into these military style prisons.

Essentially, what will be created through the legislation, and what has been tested through the current MSA pilot, will be significantly different.

There is a lot to be concerned about in this bill, but a point that is worth highlighting is that the bill grants Oranga Tamariki and their contractors’ powers to use physical force on children.

The existence of these powers creates the opportunity for abuse to occur while being protected under the law. This is extremally risky law making, ignoring the warnings of the Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care, it builds into legislation the potential for abuse.

It's also important to point out that the bill fails to address the real challenges we have within the current system. Where things tend to fall down currently is, with a small group of children who have gone through some of the hardest stuff in life. For example, Labours Fast Track program (a program that empowered community and government to work together in order to offer swift interventions for children) has an 80% success rate in reducing reoffending. Where the program struggles, is with that 20% who have some of the most significant challenges. Children experiencing homelessness, living in poverty, who have experienced significant trauma and abuse, and who lack the support, safety and love they require to thrive. The Fast track has struggled with this small group of children largely due to a lack of resources in the community (both to support early intervention and transitions from the justice system).

This Government has further stripped resources from the community, exacerbating this issue, and through the Boot Camp Bill, is proposing to keep children in prison longer, rather than investing in the real evidence-based solutions which would be most effective in supporting our children.

The Prime Minister has a responsibility to ensure that children in the care of the state are protected. The Boot Camp Bill plays politics with our children’s lives. It legislates risk, exchanging our children's safety for promises of community safety it cannot deliver on.

Criticism of this bill is not partisan, no Government has done enough. These children deserve our love, care and support, anything less and we will continue to grapple with the challenges we are currently facing.

The Prime Minister should #killthebill, step back from it, and engage with hapu, iwi and experts within our sector, and allow the evidence to guide his Government’s strategy and interventions.

A.J. Hendry is a Youth Development Worker and rangatahi advocate, working in the Youth Housing and Homelessness space. He leads and co-founded Kick Back, a youth development organizations responding to youth homelessness and is also an advocate working collectively to end youth homelessness in Aotearoa. He is also the curator and creator of When Lambs Are Silent.