
ALT Image one description: Picture with the following text: "People Against Prisons Aotearoa Guide to Submissions on the Youth Boot Camps Bill Also known as: Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Bill"

ALT Image two description: Picture with the following text: "There's a lot of focus on the Treaty Principles Bill at the moment (and rightly so) but that's not the only cooked Bill that the government is trying to push through at the moment. They are also planning to bring back military-style boot camps for young people. Every time these have been tried in New Zealand they resulted in abuse and trauma. This guide has information you could include when telling the government to reject the boot camps Bill. Submissions close Thursday 9th January."

ALT Image three description: Picture with the following text: "What is the Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Bill? This Bill amends the Oranga Tamariki Act to do two main things: Create the “young serious offender” category (YSO); Create “military-style academies” (also known as a boot camp) as a new sentencing option. The Police apply for a YSO declaration through the Youth Courts. The Bill sets out the criteria and considerations for Youth Courts when making a YSO declaration or sentencing a young person to a boot camp."

ALT Image four description: Picture with the following text: "What's the problem with the Young Serious Offender category? Labelling young people creates a negative identity for them. Many young people internalise this and find it harder to change their behaviour. Some young people bond over labels like this. They find community and a sense of belonging with others who are in the same situation. When Australia tried something similar, they found that some young people glorified the label. This label will be applied to far more rangatahi Māori than anyone else. 85% of the people eligible are Māori. Māori are also treated more harshly than Pākehā in the justice system even for the same offending. We expect the numbers to be even more disproportionate."












