Tuesday 8 June 2004

Christchurch Social Agency Applauds Initiative For Youth Offending

The Government is to be congratulated on today's youth justice residence package, according to one Christchurch social agency.

The Family Help Trust, which focuses on early intervention work with at-risk children in high risk families, is pleased the package recognises the important role families play in the development and growth of children.

"Anything that can help keep our young people out of the prison system is good news however, we believe more can be done at an earlier stage, to help reduce the likelihood of these children offending at all," says the Trust's Clinical Service Manager, Bill Pringle.

The Family Help Trust's successful programmes recognise that the family is one of the keys in 'breaking the cycle' of generational offending and violence.

"We strengthen the family with intensive early intervention (getting involved with families before children turn 5, before bad habits are learned), improving parenting skills and providing parents with more support and education. This better equips families to deal with difficulties when they occur and helps to break the cycle of learned dysfunction that often leads to offending and violence if not dealt with early enough," says Bill Pringle. The Family Trust sees this latest initiative as a way to help stem the flow of youth into adult offending but sounds a warning.

"If the families on these new Government programmes are not intensively supported and educated as part of the initiative, unfortunately, as research and studies show, these young offenders will more than likely find themselves back in residential care, or worse, prison."

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>