Small business owners are asking a parliamentary committee to take a call on “what level of youth crime is acceptable”.
The Dairy And Business Owners Group has pointed to research suggesting burglars are likely to walk away scot-free four in five times they target retailers.
The umbrella body of thousands of superettes, corner dairy shops, convenience stores and owner-operated service stations across New Zealand has submitted its report before the Justice Committee during a briefing into trends in youth crimes.
In his submission on May 4, 2023, Chairperson Sunny Kaushal recommended making the laws stricter to fix accountability to discourage youngsters from petty crimes.
“We recommend amending Section 152 of the Crimes Act 1961 to add a duty making parents responsible for the offending of a child under 18 years. Let the courts develop law around parental omissions,” Kaushal said.
Dairy And Business Owners Group Chairperson Sunny Kaushal
The committee chaired by Labour MP Vanushi Walters deals with parliamentary business involving crime and justice among other wide-ranging issues. Walters told The Indian Weekender, “While youth crime has been trending down long-term, the recent spike that New Zealand has seen in ram raids is not acceptable.”
The Labour government recently hiked financial support for small retailers hit by ram raids, offering deterrents like fog canons to be used in case of an attack. Retailers have welcomed the support, but many say it is not nearly enough to tackle the rising incidence of burglaries.
The leader of Opposition, National’s Christopher Luxon, has promised if he were elected prime minister in the elections later this year, he would send young offenders to military-style academies for rehabilitation.
Speaking to The Indian Weekender in April, Luxon dismissed criticism that the system he is proposing might be too harsh on young minds.
“That military academy has some of our best leaders and mentors in the country and our military services…community organisations that may be helping, working with that young person on addiction, numeracy literacy,” he said.
National’s Deputy Leader Nicola Willis recently told a gathering of Waitakere Indian Association in Auckland that police officers too are frustrated with young offenders not having to face any consequences for their actions.
“They tell me that their frustration is that some of the youth criminals do something one weekend, get a little bit of a slap on the wrist and an invitation to a family conference over the next few weeks. But then the next weekend they are back doing it again,” she said.
But Walters said Labour government is already focused on tackling the problems that cause crime with solutions that are proven to work, “while also making sure that appropriate consequences are in place.”
“We’ve rolled out a raft of measures to achieve this, including our Better Pathways package which is already having an impact on offending. We know there’s no single solution to tackling crime or the causes of it, but we’re absolutely focused on putting in place solutions that work,” she said.
In his submission before the Justice Committee, Kaushal also suggested a bootcamp could be a part of a more comprehensive solution.
“We need to look at the age bands to ensure the earliest intervention, to go hard and go early. We need real youth detention centres as tea and sympathy does not work. They laugh at it. I endorse a bootcamp approach for those it will work for, for others, a more structured path is needed. One where health, educational and psychological issues can be fixed,” he said.
Kaushal also cautioned against taking statistics on their face value when evaluating the state of law and order in New Zealand. He pointed to a survey he says indicates only about one in four “victimisations” are ever reported to the police.
“We put it to the Committee that there is a loss of faith in the system especially where youth offenders are involved. Official stats are unreliable because of underreporting,” he said.