Violent children in NZ

A couple of years ago, I spent a number of posts detailing how Sweden's no-smacking Nivarna had produced an increasingly violent child population since it's introduction. Direct child to child violence had increased by 489% since Sweden criminalised parental smacking of children for the purposes of discipline. What's worse, is that Sweden "now has one of the worst assault and sexual violence rates in the EU" according to a European Crime and Safety Safety Report commissioned by the UN and European Commission.

Today's Dominion Post shows a similar trend developing in NZ.

Children too young to be prosecuted have been implicated in more than 8500 crimes in one year, and police say they are often powerless to intervene.

Officers say there is little they can do in the cases, such as a 10- year-old who attacked classmates with a piece of timber, two 12-year-olds with 33 burglary charges, and a 13-year-old who attacked police with a baseball bat.

One Lower Hutt 13-year-old in social welfare care for sexual offences abused two-year-olds four more times while in care, with police unable to act.

Police usually rely on care and protection orders to intervene with troubled children through the Family Court, but officers say this can be difficult when many of them come from working two-parent families where Child, Youth and Family is unlikely to become involved.

Justice Ministry statistics show police apprehended 700 children aged under 10 and 7900 children aged 10 to 13 last year for crimes including violence, drugs and burglary. Property offences were the most common crimes committed..

Police say anecdotal evidence suggests young people are offending younger and more violently.By the time police are able to intervene, when the child turns 14, the behaviour is often entrenched.

Children under 14 can only be prosecuted for murder or manslaughter.

Sue Bradford had said before the Repeal of S59 Bill (anti-smacking bill) had passed that repealing the bill was necessary to send a message to the community that violence against children was not acceptable. It seems that children are hearing that message loud and clear and are responding with an increased level of violence and crime. And the parent's only recourse over the coming years will be to call police rather than give the child an effective punishment before things get too bad.

I can see NZ becoming a disaster over the years to come.

Related Links:
Police powerless to act on child Crims ~ Stuff
Child Abuse Up 14% despite Swedish Smacking Ban ~ Scoop