Darroch Ball
Leader
Sensible Sentencing Trust.
What we are seeing now with youth crime is the inevitable and predictable outcome of treating young offenders with hugs and hot mugs of Milo. Wait for the excuses to pile up from the left when they are face the undeniable numbers – the latest is that it’s “social media” causing it.
We have all seen the exponential increase in smash and grabs, ram raids, burglaries of dairies and service stations, and vehicle thefts followed by the subsequent joy rides and mocking of police. In fact, there has been a 500% increase in ram raids since 2018. All of these incidents, as we already know, are being committed by teenagers – and recently it has been reported that they are getting younger, more brazen, and more violent.
The constant messaging from the left is that ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric doesn’t work and we need to be looking at the causes that turn these young teens to committing crimes in the first place. The question that really needs to be asked is what ‘tough on crime laws’ are they exactly talking about? New Zealand has been saying this bulldust for the past decade about needing to focus on the roots of the crime for young people – and that’s what successive governments have done. They have simply failed to hold these young people to account and instead have turned it into the soft joke that it is right now.
This increase in youth crime has been steadily growing for the past decade or so because successive governments have been brainwashed by the likes of the former Children’s Commissioner Andrew Beecroft, anti-prison advocate Kim Workman, and the swathes of left-wing social justice warriors like Just Speak who want to get rid of the system altogether claiming it’s a ‘manifestation of colonisation’.
We have always maintained that there are two, and only two reasons, why youth are not only committing more crimes, but also getting more violent and brazen. The first is that they are simply not being caught. Sixty per cent of these offenders get away scot-free, and they know that the lower chances of getting caught are worth the risk for the kudos they get from their street mates. The second is –if they do get caught, the consequences are so minimal it’s almost a free ride – only just over one-third of offenders actually have any enforcement action taken against them.
There’s a pretty simple solution to bringing these offences down: properly fund and resource our police force so they can enforce the law, and bring in severe consequences for offenders when they are caught.
It was surprising to see a story on the news the other day highlighting the latest “excuse” that social media is playing a role in the crimes being committed by young people. Doesn’t that put up in neon lights that lack of consequences and deterrent are directly responsible for youth committing these crimes? If the Government can’t see it they need their heads read. If it is social media influencing these crimes then clearly it’s not poverty, a hard upbringing, or colonisation that is driving their decision-making processes – it’s the lack of consequences that makes it worth the risk of (not) being caught.
Until we wake up and ensure police enforce the law and judges ensure there are significant consequences, we will see these crimes continue to increase.
We have already seen the beginnings of business owners taking action to protect themselves and their businesses. The implications associated with that are obvious. The next step or outcome as they prepare to defend themselves for the inevitable are obvious. In many cases entire lives and livelihoods are at stake. Is a major catastrophe what it will take for the apologists to wake up?
