Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said there had been challenges in the community transition part of the military-style youth boot camp pilot, but that was expected and ideas for improvements would be considered. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The Prime Minister is defending the government's boot camps despite one participant being removed from the pilot following a court appearance, saying they are some of New Zealand's most challenging young people but "I don't think we should give up on them."
Oranga Tamariki confirmed on its website on Monday that one of the teenagers who was part of the pilot was "withdrawn" and "transferred to Corrections custody."
The agency would not comment further because the issue was before the court, but its acting deputy chief executive of youth justice services Iain Chapman said the team who worked closely with the participant during the pilot was "disappointed with the outcome for this young person."
"We are continuing to provide support and work alongside their whānau through this transition to the adult jurisdiction."
Chapman said the focus now was ensuring the best outcome for the eight remaining participants in the final weeks of the pilot, which concludes next month.
The military style academies for youth have come under scrutiny by opposition parties for a lack of transparency, particularly the reoffending rate of the teenagers. Reducing reoffending was a primary goal for the boot camps.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the military style academies had been a "good initiative" and one of several things the government was trying to do to reduce reoffending, but he didn't expect everyone coming through the programme wouldn't reoffend.
"We obviously said we've put in place a pilot," he said, and would consider how that played out when finalising the legislation.
"There were some really good learnings from my take in the residential component in particular, and there was some challenges, as we had expected, in terms of the community transition."
He said that information would be digested. The government could consider potentially extending the residential period he said, and what more could be done about the community transition period.
He said the government would continue to "perfect" the boot camps to see how they could work better and "have more impact."
"We are dealing with some of New Zealand's most challenging young people. But I don't think we should give up on them."
He said the government was giving them an opportunity to "change their lives" and "put it on a different trajectory than where it's heading".
"If they choose not to take that opportunity that's ultimately on them, but we are going to give them every opportunity to choose a better pathway."
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