Own goal by Judge

Lindsay Mitchell discusses the own goal scored by the head honcho down at the bureaucracy that is the Yoof Court.

About 38 per cent of all police apprehensions of youth offenders now resulted in diversion, compared to 55 per cent two years ago.

Along with

"This is a great provision," he said. "There's no other youth justice system in the world that has a provision like that ... that instructs authorities: don't charge."

Linsday rightly suggests the answer is

Try rephrasing it. New Zealand bends over backwards to avoid holding young thugs and thieves to account.

My view is that use of diversion is dropping, as noted in the article, because of the increasing violent nature of iced up yooves who do not show any regard for life limb or property. From the Police

"the changing face of youth offending, which appears ... to be more violent".

The Police have obviously got the message from Joe Public loud and clear, no diversion, present them to the courts for weighing off. Diversion is a once only option and the 38% reflects that those being caught are repeat offenders who do warrant being held to account.

One can only wonder when the judiciary might do the same and properly lock these thugs up, without parole. Community sentences are not an option.