Ryan Bridge: Youth Court is a good idea – when it works

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

The Youth Court is a good idea because it tries to steer kids away from adult prisons and a life of crime. But when it fails, it fails spectacularly, and we all pay the price for leniency.

Take teenager Dontae Eden. When he was 16, he bashed a 78-year-old man nearly to death while the old guy slept in his bed.

A Youth Court judge gave him a warning and told him to keep out of trouble.

If that's not lenient, I don't know what is. Did he stay out of trouble? No.

Stuff reports that three months later he robbed a bloke in Wellington, stole from a petrol station, and resisted arrest by the cops.

He's now 18 and will be dealt with by the same judge in the District, not Youth Court.

I'm all for second chances, and the youth court in some cases, but surely if you beat someone nearly to death in such a brutal fashion, there's nothing particularly youthful about your actions.

You're not acting like a youth whose made a wee mistake and needs a hand turning things around. You've acted like a thug, and more should have been done to stop another crime from being committed.

This guy was seen running from the old guy's house with a crowbar. The judge gave him home detention for this second round of offending.

So, you can beat an old man, mug another, rip off a gas station, and fight with the cops, and never see the inside of a cell?

Keeping him out of jail might be better for him in the long-term, we're told, but is it better for us, the public - walking down the street or, God forbid, sleeping in our own beds at night?

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