At its core, youth offending data is a mirror. High rates often correlate with poverty and housing instability,[i]exposure to violence,[ii] and disengagement from school.
‘The extreme levels of deprivation, early childhood trauma and mental health concerns among Youth Justice populations require systematic and transformation change with a commitment to reversing criminalisation of trauma and mental health.’
Exploring ways the Youth Court system can address youth mental health and reduce youth offending: A New Zealand comparative. (2018 Edwards A., et al) [i]
Youth Offending
Entering the Youth Justice System starts with the Police apprehending a child or young person. The resulting outcome can be (a) no further action is taken and an informal warning is made (b) referral to Youth Aid (a section within the NZ Police) (c) arrest.
The rate of children (aged 10 to13 years) who have interacted with the Police in 2023/24 in Te Tai Tokerau sits at a lower rate (66 per 10,000 children) than the nation-wide rate (75 per 10,000). This is 16.4% fewer than in 2022/23, and significantly less (69.2%) than the peak in 2013/14. Aside from the Bay of Plenty region – where the rate declined 90.7% - this is a significant decline in the interactions of Police with children in a region.
The rate of interaction of young people aged 13 to 17 years of age in Te Tai Tokerau is higher (298 per 10,000 young people) than the nationwide rate (250 per 10,000 young people). Compared with the rate in the previous year, this is a decline of 6.8%, while it is 18.1% lower than in 2019/20. 17-year-olds were included as youth for the first time, in 2019/20, whereas previously they would have faced the adult system.
Court proceedings
The proportion of young people proceeding to the Youth Court in Te Tai Tokerau has remained relatively stable. In 2023/24, 25% (77 young people) progressed to Youth Court, consistent with the national rate and 1 percentage point higher than the previous year.
When expressed as a rate, this equates to 130 per 10,000 young people in Te Tai Tokerau. The region sits mid-range nationally: four regions record higher rates (with Bay of Plenty the highest at 260 per 10,000) and four record lower rates (the Wellington region is lowest at 98 per 10,000).
This pattern is encouraging for Te Tai Tokerau, as Youth Court is intended to operate as a last resort, not a default pathway. Lower progression to court reduces the risk of:
· stigmatisation and early labelling as an “offender”
· disruption to education
· weakened pro-social and whānau connections.
· longer-term involvement in the adult justice system
In practical terms, fewer young people are being drawn deeper into formal justice processes at an early age.
However, this trend is not uniform across the country. Several regions — including Canterbury, Bay of Plenty, Auckland City, Southern, and Tasman — now record higher Youth Court rates than in 2019/20, suggesting regional variation in system settings, policing practices, or policy impacts.
These shifts sit within the current Coalition Government’s law and order agenda, which places greater emphasis on accountability and tougher responses to serious and repeat youth offending. A key component is the Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Act, a flagship legislative change that introduces:
· Young Serious Offender (YSO) declarations, and
· Military-Style Academy Orders, providing the Youth Court with stronger intervention tools for a small cohort of persistent offenders.
Serious and persistent offending behaviour
“Serious and persistent” describe children and young people defined as those most at risk of future offending, based on a history of serious and persistent behaviour. This threshold is met when:
· Police have proceeded against the child or young person three or more times within a 12-month period, and
· At least one offence is considered serious, meaning that, if committed by an adult, it would carry a maximum sentence of seven years or more.
Examples of offences meeting this threshold include unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and burglary. These offenses are often labelled as ‘ram raiders’, in the media and political rhetoric.
There are very few children aged 10 to 13 in Te Tai Tokerau exhibiting serious and persistent offending behaviour — just four per 10,000, a rate that has remained stable over time. The national average for this age group is seven per 10,000, with only Auckland City, Bay of Plenty, and Eastern Districts recording higher rates.
For youth aged 14 to 17, patterns change: the national average rises to 33 per 10,000 young people. In Te Tai Tokerau, the rate is slightly lower at 30 per 10,000, placing the region among the few districts below the national average, alongside Waitematā, Wellington, Tasman, and Southern.