It is a great honour to be asked to write an article for this year’s Annual Report. I am not an accomplished cricketer, but what I know is that The Willows is much more than a Cricket Club. The greatest legacy a man can leave the world is not so much a great business, but a living investment in the future development of our youth who, if supported and given focus, will become successful and contributing members of our community. The Willows, in my mind, is a reflection of what is good with ensuring youth have a goal and a vision to work towards, but it is more than that, it is about providing young cricketers with an opportunity and exposure to sporting role models.
I have heard it said that one of the greatest problems in our society today is fatherless-ness. Most of society’s problems do in fact come back to the family. An involved, protective, passionate father is vital to a healthy functioning family. If he is absent, someone, in some way, will have to stand in for that absence – often it will end up being the Police. Young people need a life coach a role model. In my mind this is one of the key factors missing in many of the youth that Police come across.
Recent media portrayals of child and youth offending have an alarmist tone suggesting that it is out of control and escalating. The evidence doesn’t support these claims with relatively stable youth offending rates over the past seven years at around 22% of total apprehended offenders. Youth offending is not out of control in fact the number has not changed much over the past five years, except the seriousness of some crimes, which have rightly concerned us all. The other concern is the number of violent young women offending is increasing.
So what is my view of youth offending? I need to start with the fact that 75% of all youth never have any negative dealings with the Police. However a quarter of New Zealand’s young people have committed a criminal offence by the time they reach 17. The majority offend only once or twice but there is also a small group who grow into “serious juvenile offenders”. Some start as young as 10 and of note children under the age of 10 cannot be prosecuted for any criminal offence. Criminal responsibility begins at the age of 10. Children aged 10-13 years can only be prosecuted for murder or manslaughter. Other offending by children may be dealt with by Police through a warning or diversionary action. More serious offending can result in a FGC (Family Group Conference) and may be referred to the Family Court. Young people aged 14 to 16 years can be prosecuted for any offence.
Bad parenting is the main causal link to such serious offending. Children become what we encourage them to be and sadly we have children in Christchurch grow up learning the craft of criminal behaviour. We have children being put through partially open windows by their father to commit a burglary. This becomes their learnt behaviour. The young people who are the most serious and persistent offenders are usually that way because they grew up in families so plagued with problems that they simply didn’t learn a lot of the skills and values necessary to live a successful, law-abiding lifestyle. These are skills like getting along with other people, knowing how to solve problems, stopping and thinking before acting. Many are motivated by a view of entitlement. They also failed to learn values such as respect for the safety of others, or their property, because their families didn’t show this respect themselves. Sadly underneath the shell of a hardened youth offender is still a child and many of serious youth are hardwired at birth and due to the environment they are in they develop in to lifetime persistent offenders who will remain a draw on our community.
Another link and concern is substance abuse by children aged between 6 and 11 which is one of the key factors in petty criminals entering a life of crime. For teens aged between 12 and 14, the main danger is posed by them falling into bad company with “anti-social friends”.
Intervention delivered early in the life of the young person and the problem is the most effective means known for reducing the risk of persistent offending among at-risk young people. In Canterbury the Police response to this is the Youth Crime Unit who actively target and surpass the offending of the top 30 persistent Youth Offender. We have other outstanding Police staff who work in the roles of Youth Aid Officers, Youth Development Staff and Youth Education Officers who are dedicated to making young people good community members as the youth are the future of our community.
People often ask Police about what works to reduce crime by young people. Police are not the experts in youth programmes as our role is to reduce crime and crashes through proactive and reactive strategies. What I do know from international research is that crime is one of the results when young people fail to do well in the four environments of positive development. These involve success in family, school/work, positive peer group and community development. One of the clearest characteristics of interventions that work is that they help young people start to succeed in one or more of these areas.
Parents and especially Dads are a parent coach and should be someone who inspires their children to do great things and to have a dream of the future. From a sporting and especially a cricket perspective young people need to be inspired to succeed but a good coach also empathises with them when they are on the bench. Many of the youth we deal with are on the bench and will never be given the opportunity to get into the game. It’s a Dad’s job to act as a parent coach and help your child get back into the game after suffering a defeat. Many of these young offenders do not have a Dad in their life so the challenge for our community is how do we help fill the void.
Often it is the Police Officer that provides a role model to many repeat youth offenders as they set boundaries for these young people. As with cricket there are boundaries and with boys there need to be firm boundaries, they need to know – Who is in charge? What are the rules? Will the rules be enforced fairly? Many of the youths we deal with need boundaries in their lives and do not get them at home.
A father’s leadership comes to the fore when spending time with their son. It is a privilege for a father to teach a son how to throw a ball, use a cricket bat, how to stand up to bullies at school and that it is honourable to work hard and attend school.
As with cricket, good coaches get the best out of their players. Good parent – coaches know how to get the best from every member of their team. We need to keep communicating your expectations, the game plan, and the rewards of being a good team member. Coaching a youth is about giving the right messages like, “Treat other people the way you would like others to treat you”.
Sports teams, employment and education play a vital role in keeping young people out of Police attention. However, excluding young people from school isn’t an answer. If young people are not in school they become a risk and along with the boredom factor soon come to the attention of the Police. To keep our young, especially boys, engaged in school, is the one thing that will make a difference to stopping youth offending.
As Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft said, “Young people seek role models like heat-seeking missiles. It’s not rocket science.” The Willows provides role models for some of our young. Well done.