Youth Offending Amendment Bill – introduction approval

The Government has set a clear target to reduce child and youth offending. It requires a 15 percent reduction in the total number of children and young people with serious and persistent offending behaviour by the end of 2030.

To achieve the target, the Government will hold young people who offend to account. It will also support them to address the issues that contribute to their offending.

Cabinet paper background

On 10 June 2024, Cabinet agreed policy decisions to establish a Young Serious Offender (YSO) declaration and a military-style academy order. They invited Oranga Tamariki to draft instructions to give effect to those decisions through a Bill.

The purpose of the YSO declaration is to create a faster, stronger, and more targeted response to serious and persistent offending. It is focused on young people where:

• previous interventions have not been successful at reducing re-offending
• there is a high risk that offending will continue or escalate without increased and strengthened intervention.

Additional powers 

The YSO declaration will provide additional powers for Police and the Youth Court in order to achieve:

• increased public safety and accountability for offending and re-offending
• a reduction in seriousness and frequency of offending through access to a timely and enhanced rehabilitative service response.

The military-style academy order will also be a new sentencing response under section 283 of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989.

It will be available to the Youth Court for eligible young persons aged 15-17 years old at the time of offending who have been declared a YSO.