A lot of hot takes out there about why young people get involved in crime...
Over the last decade I've served a diverse range of rangatahi (both rich and poor), many who've gotten on the "wrong side of the law".
Here's some things I've learnt...
If you're a mum and dad landlord and you can't afford to ensure that your rental property is healthy and fit for people to live in, you shouldn't be investing in housing.
This morning, the
@NZMorningReport
had a segment discussing concerns that our highest earners were finding ways to declare less income, and thus shirk responsibility for paying their share of tax...
Despite what many pākehā feel, co-governance is not racism, it is a Te tiriti imperative.
The reason many of us feel so uncomfortable with it, is because we have never honored our side of the Treaty.
Today
@chrisluxonmp
sought to draw a link between youth crime and truancy. Yet, though there may be some correlation between the two the common factor sitting behind both is (again) poverty and inequality...
1.There are no "bad kids" out there, only hurt ones. No matter how tough, scary, big, or bad, a young person may seem to you, when you take time to listen and hear what's going on under the surface the reality is a child who is hurting and really just asking to be seen.
Today the Government announced a new category for some of our most vulnerable and traumatised kids, labelling those who cause persistent harm as "Young Serious Offenders" Before the press conference was over the Prime Minister and Minister were directly referring to these kids
Encouraging to see some leadership from one of our politicians on this. Thanks
@efesocollins
for responding to the issue, rather than getting caught up in the easy to sell sound bite solutions so many are pedaling.
#nzpol
#EradicatePoverty
And yet, if you are poor, finding ways to survive within a system that's very design keeps you trapped within poverty, you are a criminal, a dole bludger, and unfit for public service.
What does this say about who, and what, we value within this society?
#EradicatePoverty
Reflect perhaps on the condemnation of
@NZGreens
Party Leader,
@Metiria_Turei
, who was run out of parliament for admiting that she lied to winz in order to survive, as a young single mother, struggling to pay rent and keep food on the table.
These takes are disappointing from the
@AMShowNZ
team. I acknowledge frustration within the community, yet the
@AMShowNZ
has a responsibility to do more than drive hysteria and outrage. Our media have an important role in ensuring our community have good information in order...
Paul Goldsmith was asked by Lisa Owens on
@CheckpointRNZ
tonight why - instead of boot camps - we don't focus our resources and attention on providing intensive wrap around support to the small group of children and young people who are represented in our "persistent reoffending
Does anyone think it's crazy that we have a situation where children are jumping in cars and driving into buildings, and the most pressing question dominating our conversation is, how many bollards have been installed?
Politics is personal.
When landlords push back on regulations designed to ensure people can live in safe homes, they are essentially saying that their financial gain is more important than the health and safety of our kids.
Spoke with
@1newsnz
tonight about the need to respond rather than react to what is going on. There are no bad kids out there, just hurt ones.
#nzpol
Watch here:
Was on Breakfast this morning discussing the kōrero around "Boy Racers". I do sometimes get a bit concerned that we don't like young people to exist in public. I think it's important we create spaces for our young people to have fun, to be connected, and to find belonging.
The glee that some people have displayed in watching these homes burn is disturbing. These whare are homes for whānau. If you oppose homes being built, you're opposing whānau being housed.
I know a lot us are fairly complacent when it comes to local body elections. Why does it matter? Who cares? Isn't politics a waste of time?
Well, only if we don't show up. Cc.
@efesocollins
If you want to have a "lockem up and throw away the key" attitude go for it. But, know that it doesn't make our communities safer, it doesn't prevent crime, it actually exacerbates the harm within our community.
#LoveIsTheWay
When rich people avoid tax and hide their wealth in trusts to avoid contributing to the society that has supported their success, we don't call that fraud, we don't even call it immoral.
My whānau and I joined in solidarity with our Palestinian whānau again today, calling for ceasefire, an end to occupation, for an end to the senseless massacare of innocents.
I've been to several of these solidarity marches now, and despite the misinformation ..
One of the most basic crime prevention strategies we have is ending poverty.
The psychological, material, and financial strain poverty has can have devasting impacts on whānau, often exacerbating some challenges families are facing while creating others.
2. Rich or poor, when YP feel disconnected from their whānau and community, ostracised and othered, they are more likely to become involved in crime. This disconnection can happen as a result of communities scape goating YP and expecting little of them (currently occurring atm)
Contrast this to the way that poor people are discussed when they are forced - in order to survive- to find loopholes within a system that keeps them impoverished.
Regulating alcohol advertising should be a no brainer.
@_chloeswarbrick
's bill would regulate Big Alcohol's ability to market their dangerous drug to our kids.
This isn't about preventing people from having a quiet beer, it's about us as adults taking responsibility for the...
One of the most glaring hypocrisies in this country, is the compassion we have when we hear stories of tamariki and pēpē suffering from abuse and neglect, contrasted with the moral outrage and stones we throw at the teenagers those children grow into.
There is a direct....
... it also occurs when YP don't have adults outside their parents that are involved and invested in them. For young people to thrive, it's important they feel that they belong, they matter, and they have people that care about them.
I spoke with
@1NewsNZ
today about the
@NZNationalParty
policy to support rangatahi on the benefit. The idea of Youth Workers supporting young people to find meaningful employment isn't new or necessarily a bad one. The problem with the policy however comes when it is linked...
Yesterday, Peter Mortlock spoke of hurt and exploitation that occured at Arise as a sad reality of growing a vision. My friends, if people are getting crushed in pursuit of your churches vision, then the Divine ain't with you on that journey.
We gotta stand with those who stand for us...
@_chloeswarbrick
is one of those politicians who gets it. For her Public Service is just that
During the lockdown years, whenever there was a change in alert levels or covid surge, she'd reach out to offer support to those of us...
Was on breakfast this morning speaking to the Government's announcement yesterday. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the truama and harm experienced by our business community. That pain is real.
3. Disability (specifically FASD), and lack of specialized support for whānau and young people with disabilities has been a factor for lot of the YP I have served. The failure to support these YP and their whānau, often leaves whānau struggling, and YP vulnerable.
One things you can say about
@MaramaDavidson
is that she's a real one. We can be pretty good at critiquing politicians on here, but so often we fail to acknowledge those who do good.
The general vibe of the story was that we should expect that those earning over 180k would find loopholes to avoid paying their share of tax. Listening to the story you would think it was both fair enough, expected, and really the fault of the government for raising taxes.
As my little one and I left Rainbows End today we were greeted by armed police carrying assault rifles.
There are those advocating for the general arming of police, but at least for me, this becoming an every day reality does not make me feel safer.
Sound bite solutions like harsher punishment and more police don't work because they fail to respond what is actually going on beneath all this stuff. We cannot punish our way out of any of this. If we are serious about prevention, than we need to get serious about ensuring....
What interested me was the difference between how this story was framed, and the manner in which poor people and those struggling to survive on the benefit are often discussed.
Christians, over the last 24 hours I've watched as people who identify as Christians have hurled racist, homophobic and transphobic abuse at several people who have weighed in on the Bethlehem college conversation. Regardless of whether you feel you're in the right...
We are told to expect it, in fact we applaud their ingenuity, turning our ire on the Government, asking how they would dare to challenge the right of the wealthy to accumulate and amass wealth.
Some facts:
1. Youth crime has been trending down since 2009
2.The current Youth Justice approach of avoiding court and an ensuring an interagency, Restorative approach is working for the majority of yp to reduce reooffending...
I know we’re living in a time where facts aren’t that important, but Mr Mitchell on
@NZMorningReport
now knows youth crime isn’t increasing across the board - I gave him the youth crime statistics in estimates only last week. Increase in Auckland. Nationally, it’s down.
The Youth Crime kōrero is revealing a lot about where we are at as a society.
Despite the evidence that demonstrates that the tamariki involved in these incidents are overwhelmingly rangatahi who have experienced severe truama, abuse, and poverty, the dominant conversation...
For the Christian, the call of Christ is to stand beside those who are most marginalized within our society.
Stepping back from the noise and uproar, our Trans whānau are a community that are *still* largely oppressed and excluded within our society.
...everyone has the
#Right2Housing
, that everyone has
#LiveableIncomes
, that holistic health, disability, and mental health services are available to our whānau. We need to invest in our people, our communities, and provide aroha and manaaki to those who are suffering.
4. Mental health and again lack of support for young people and whānau going through depression, anxiety, and other complex MH challenges, is often also a factor. If we fail to provide people with support to manage the complexity of their lives, they will find ways to survive.
Support for young people and whānau w/FASD is a huge gap, and it is this lack of support that sees way to many yp with FASD end up involved in crime, or experiencing homelessness. Again a reminder that punishment as prevention is a far to simplistic "solution".
Second, the label risks obscuring the reality. First and foremost these are not "Young Serious Offenders", but vulnerable, traumatised, children. The harm we see in the community is the result of the pain these kids are enduring. By focusing on the visible harm, we ignore the...
Some great news to go with your morning coffee...
Almost 90% of children and young people don't get involved in crime. Chuck that in a headline and run it on repeat for three weeks.
... in short as "YSO's". There are a couple of reasons why we should be concerned by this:
First, It's important to recognize the impact labels have on a child's development and sense of identity. By labeling these kids YSO's we risk, we risk these children taking up the label
The poor have no time for the politics of Kindness. Kindness won't house the homeless, nor fill hungry bellies. Kindness, like charity, is an antidote for the pricked conscience of the privileged. No, enough of Kindness, give us Justice!
Recently, I spoke with a rangatahi who had been sanctioned, and before he'd been connected to Kick Back, had been sleeping rough. While on the street, his focus had been on survival, and his ability to engage with "his obligations" was limited.
Submissions on 'No Cause' evictions end tomorrow. This bill will allow Landlords to evict us without providing a good and sufficient reason. The impact of the bill will be to create a chilling effect on renters, creating an environment where mum and dad renters are afraid...
I am concerned abt some of the messaging being put out there by some media at the moment. Today on
@TodayFM_nz
@TovaOBrien
's and
@AMShowNZ
@NewshubNZ
young people have been likened 2 terrorists, a virus, a pandemic, this is unhelpful, dehumanizing and obscuring the reality tht..
For Christians, the "tough on crime" approach is at odds with our faith. Those who are disproptionately harmed by such policy - the poor, the young, the hurting and the unwell - are the very people our faith requires us to love, serve, and to step into solidarity with.
Just a small shoutout to me mate
@_chloeswarbrick
A bit of muck being thrown her way, but from a frontline community perspective, I don't know a more engaged and connected electorate MP.
6. Poverty, homelessness and desperation also plays a role for those young people from lower socioeconomic communities. We're talking about YP who have nothing, who are struggling to survive, and who have been abandoned by the state and rejected by our communities.
As I prepare to leave this place, I find myself reflecting on the nature of power. What is it? And who holds it?
I know there's a lot of people feeling disempowered at the moment.
It might sound weird to you, but I've met so many young people that got involved in burgs and car jacking as a way to cope with the anxiety and depression they were experiencing.
5. Addiction is often another factor here. Now, it's important to note, that when our young people are using alcohol or other drugs, often again this is a survival mechanism. When a YP is in pain, when they're experiencing mental illness, when they lack the support...
... and intergrating it into a part of thier own self identity. The result - and risk- being that we push these children further into the sort of behaviour we are trying to change.
It might not seem rationale to you, but when a person is suffering and finds a strategy that can ease the pain, they'll use that strategy. For some young people, taking risks, stealing cars, doing a burg, it becomes one of those strategies.
As Tangata Tiriti, I am honoured and so grateful that my kids have been able to grow up in a world where Te Reo and Te Ao Māori are being more and more widely embraced.
Heartbroken. Fes was a true man of the people, a courageous champion for our rangatahi.
I truly valued his aroha and advocacy for our young people. No matter what room he was in, or what table he sat at, he ensured the experiences and voices of our young people were heard.
It is disappointing to see some political parties celebrating this. There is a human cost to these sanctions, one paid in the suffering and trauma of some of those we have most marginalized.
On Bethlehem college:Over the yrs I've sat with rangatahi who have been deeply hurt, psychologically harmed and truamatized by versions of the Christian Faith which have no room for true acceptance of
#LGBTQ
peoples.
@davidfarrier
in a recent webworm commented that may xtians...
Found some time to read through the detail this morning of the Coalition agreements. One aspect that caught my eye was the commitment to increase sanctions and obligations on people who need to access social welfare.
Whereas if they are traumatised kids, and whats more children with disabilities, who are also mentally unwell, being abused, and lacking safety, love and care, than such reactionary policy may not seem so rational. Words matter, and how we speak about our children has a
Labels can be powerful, and it's important to recognize that these kids are at a critical stage in their development, the words we speak over them, the labels we give them, can support them to heal and thrive, or do further harm.
This 20million would have changed the lives of young people experiencing homelessness right now. It would have meant safety, security, a home, for rangatahi currently suffering the enduring indignity of homelessness.
... invisible pain and trauma, which is driving the harmful behaviour. The focus shifts us away from evidence based solutions and makes the "tough on crime" rhetoric seem logically. Because, if they are serious offenders, than a punitive and harsh reaction seems justified.
Youth prison is not the solution for tamariki and rangatahi who become involved in crime.
All it does is kick the can down the road leaving unaddressed the factors that led to offending in the first plan.
One of the points
@davidfarrier
is picking up on, is that at its core, the Christian faith has a lot more to say about economic justice and care for the poor and oppressed than it does about things like Drag Queen Story time or (insert random moral issue). Yet, many in our....
"Ive got two choices",
In recent interviews -
@TovaOBrien
&
@ninetonoon
- Minister Chour has made the claim that she only has two options available to her "do nothing" or make the "hard decisions" the Government is currently making.
The Ram Raid Bill risks fast tracking our kids into the justice system, it doesn't address any of the core reasons why children cause harm, and thus fails to respond to what is happening in our communities...
Giving security gaurds power's to use physical force, and businesses the right to arm themselves and use physical violence, will escalate the violence in our community.
It was encouraging to hear some evidence based kōrero from a political leader regarding youth crime on
@NewshubNationNZ
. As
@efesocollins
points out, if we want to go hard on crime, we go hard on the drivers of crime I.e poverty etc. Wayne Brown howeva demonstrated how little...
...and punitive frame works are not the answer. Instead we need to invest in our young people, and provide them with the opportunities they need to thrive.
#EradicatePoverty
The Prime Minister, in his stand-up this afternoon, said that NZ is a country where we have rights, and we have responsibilities. He went on to outline his intention to get tougher on children who cause harm, to send a clear message about his expectation's of their behaviour.
The Bill seeking to repeal 7AA is before select committee. The Government has used anecdotal evidence to argue 7AA has led to childrens cultural needs being placed above their need for safety.
This is not true.
A couple of weeks ago we delivered our petition to parliament calling on the Government and all our political leaders to work together to stop the Ram Raid Bill, and instead to create a cross party accord on Youth Justice commiting Parliament to evidence based,
Marched in solidarity with our Palestinian whānau today...
What is happening to the Palestinian people right now is akin to genocide.
The lives of our Palestinian whānau are of no less value than the lives of any other people.
Palestinians should be free.
#FreeGaza
Jewish people are not the Israeli Government!
Jewish people are not universally in support of what is occurring in Gaza right now.
In fact, Jewish people have been on the front lines around the world, calling for peace, standing for Justice,
Stood with my kids in solidarity with our Palestinian whānau today. The Israeli state has killed over 30,000 people since this horrific violence began, about 12,500 of which are children.
Housing is not a privilege, its a basic human need.
Whānau in Kāinga Ora whare were there because their options were already limited. Particularly concerning here is the point that some people are being evicted for being behind in their rent.
This story illustrates the struggle many of our people are facing. It's easy to stand as an observer to the suffering of others and cast judgements. But, what would you do if your children were hungry?
"Moving a problem along, doesn't solve the problem."
@_chloeswarbrick
About 4 yrs ago the business association in a community I was serving in decided that it wanted to do something about the rough sleeping whānau in our hood
Housing is a Human Right.
If a select few individuals held control of the water supply, providing access to individuals and communities at an exorbitant price, and denying access to those who couldn't afford it, while only providing dirty,
We can install as many bollards as we want, but if it's not ram raids, it'll be something else.
The kids are hurting e hoa.
We got to start grappling with the solutions.
#GetSmart
#NotHard