Most young offenders age out of offending with little need for formal justice involvement. But all the research shows that a much smaller group of youth offenders, up to 20 per cent, may become life course, persistent adult offenders. These young people will cause a disproportionately huge drain on the health, social welfare and also the criminal justice systems in New Zealand and Australia.
One way of “turning off the tap” of young offenders flowing into the adult criminal justice system, is to better respond to this small group of potential life course offenders. One of their common characteristics is neurodevelopmental disorders and/or mental health issues. For young people, the former is probably more prevalent than the latter.
This is a growing issue within youth justice systems throughout much of the world. Arguably we have misdiagnosed, or failed to diagnose, many of these conditions. As a result, a cohort of young offenders has been dealt with in the Courts without a full and nuanced understanding of the causes of their offending and, in some cases, the degree of their culpability. All this is now changing.
Youth Mental Health Forensic Services, when properly deployed and resourced, are one of the community’s most effective frontline crime fighters.
All this, and more, is at the centre of this presentation.