People Against Prisons Aotearoa

Abolitionist Demand 5: End the practice of arresting and charging people under the age of 18.

This is a part of No Pride in Prisons’ Abolitionist demands. These demands were originally published as a book. To see a pdf of the book, click here. To buy a copy, please email info@noprideinprisons.org.nz

Under the Crimes Act 1961^[1] and Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989,^[2] children as young as 10 years old can be tried as adults. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child considers this unacceptable, recommending an age of criminal responsibility no younger than 12.^[3]

In an article arguing for raising the age of criminal responsibility in England, Barry Goldson argued that the issue of criminalising children is “problematic for reasons that extend far beyond arbitrary constructions of criminal capacity.”^[4] Goldson questions how it is that a 10-year-old child can effectively be considered an adult by the criminal justice system “when, in every other area of the law, the social rights and responsibilities that ‘adulthood’ conveys are reserved for those 18 years plus?”^[5] Thus, the criminalisation of children as young as 10 years of age indicates a dangerous double standard in New Zealand law, where a child is expected to possess the ‘adult’ reason and responsibility not attributed to them in any other area of the law.

Under section 214 of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989, a police officer has broad powers to arrest a young person. For example, an officer can arrest a young person if they believe doing so would prevent “that child or young person from committing further offences”^[6] or if they reasonably believe that “the arrest of the child or young person is required in the public interest.”^[7]No Pride in Prisons affirms that it is never “in the public interest” for a child to be arrested. In 2014, police apprehended 14-16 year olds on 16,637 occasions, 5,038 occasions for 10-13 year olds and 635 occasions for children 9 years old and younger.^[8] This means that, on average, police apprehended someone under the age of 17 once every 24 minutes in 2014.  The age group second most likely to be apprehended by police is 14-16 year olds, being surpassed only by 17-21 year olds.^[9]

The criminalisation of young people particularly affects Māori. In 2014, Māori made up 60.02% of those apprehended by police between the ages of 10-13^[10] and 67% of young people given an adult sentence in 2015.^[11] The practice of arresting and charging those who are under the age of 18 is an inherently irresponsible operation which puts the safety and liberty of young people at risk and reflects the patterns of racism found in the Criminal Injustice System more generally. It must be ended.

^[1]Crimes Act 1961 s 21.

^[2] Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 s 272.

^[3] United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 10 (2007) (Geneva: United Nations, 2007), 11.

^[4] Barry Goldson, “COUNTERBLAST: ‘Difficult to Understand or Defend’: A Reasoned Case for Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility,” The Howard Journal 48, no. 5 (2009): 515.

^[5] Ibid., 518.

^[6]Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 s 214(1)(a)(ii).

^[7]Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 s 214(2)(b).

^[8] Statistics New Zealand, “Annual Apprehensions for the Latest Calendar Years (ANZSOC),” Statistics New Zealand, 3 April 2016. http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE7407.

^[9] Ministry of Justice, Child and Youth Offending Statistics: An Overview of Child and Youth Offending Statistics in New Zealand: 1992 to 2008, (Wellington: Ministry of Justice, 2010), 3.

^[10] 3024 Māori apprehended between ages 10-13 out of a total of 5038 apprehensions for that age group. That means that Māori make up 60.02% of arrests for 10-13 year olds.

Statistics New Zealand, “Annual Apprehensions for the Latest Calendar Years (ANZSOC),” Statistics New Zealand, 3 April 2016. http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE7407.

^[11] Statistics New Zealand, “Children and Young People Given an Order in Court – Most Serious Offence Calendar Year,” Statistics New Zealand, 2 July 2016. http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE7362.