Punitive approach doesn’t work

By Frank Neill

There is a wealth of evidence which shows that punitive approaches to youth crime do not work to reduce offending, Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand’s campaigns director Lisa Woods says.

“We are deeply concerned by tough on crime narratives and policies that fail to address the root causes of harmful behaviour,” Ms Woods says.

She was commenting on reports that the National Party leader Christopher Luxon has said that the government needs to harden up on retail offending.

If elected, National has promised the worst of New Zealand’s reoffending youth aged between 15 and 17 would end up in military-style camps.