Teen girls sucked into crime by older men

More teenage girls are turning to crime and violence after becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol through their older boyfriends, a Nelson lawyer says.

His observations are backed up by groundbreaking research being done by social anthropologist Donna Swift, who says the teenage girls in trouble with police for violence or anti-social behaviour she deals with, often have boyfriends four or five years older.

Lawyer John Sandston said during the past year he had noticed a pattern emerging where in "case after case" the girls aged 14-16 coming before the Youth Court on violence and dishonesty charges were hanging around with much older men, who were giving them drugs and alcohol, initially for free.

"It's not every girl, but the vast majority seem to have boyfriends five to seven years older than them or they are in a group with males that age."

He acknowledged the issue of young girls dating older men was not a new phenomenon but said he was concerned as anecdotally it seemed to be getting worse.

Both Mr Sandston and Dr Swift said they were concerned these young girls were heading down a destructive path, had bad self-esteem and were dropping out of school.

"My concern is where is this going to lead these kids?" Mr Sandston said.

He said he had discovered that often the young girls were getting alcohol for free initially and when the free supply dried up, turned to crime, like burglaries or robberies, to either support their habits or pay back debts.

He believed some also were carrying out sexual favours to pay for the drugs or alcohol.

He felt it was the "modus operandi" of the men to pick up young girls and get them hooked on drugs and alcohol.

He was familiar with the names of many of the older men the girls were dating or hanging around with as they regularly appeared in the district court, he said.

Mr Sandston said it had become more common to see the older boyfriends waiting at Youth Court while their younger girlfriends appeared.

The girls were also hanging out at the district court while their boyfriends appeared on charges.

A lot of the girls were bright and it was a shame to see them destroying their lives, he said.

Mr Sandston wanted to speak out as he was concerned some parents had no idea what was going on.

Dr Swift is a third of the way through ground-breaking research looking at the use of violence and anti-social behaviour in girls aged 13 to 17, called The Girls' Project.

As part of her studies Dr Swift is gathering information from 3000 young girls in the Tasman police district, which covers the top of the South Island.

Dr Swift said a pattern had emerged in that many of the girls in trouble she spoke to had older boyfriends.

The girls were often physically mature and did not fit in at school, or have other interests.

Often the older boyfriend was the only thing that made them feel good.

She said what concerned her was that the relationships the girls had with their older partners often had a level of dating violence that was similar to a domestic violence type relationship.

"There's an awful lot of young girls spending time with their boyfriends – girls 14, 15, 16, maybe even younger, going out with guys and getting bashed around or abused the same you would see in a domestic violence relationship."

Dr Swift said girls accounted for about 30 per cent of the youth violence reported to police in the Tasman police district, which was up from 25 per cent five or six years ago.

Little research had been carried out about girls and violence in New Zealand, which was partly why her study was so important, she said.

However because these girls will be mothers and nurture the next generation, there was huge potential by intervening with this small group of girls to reduce youth violence and make a big difference.

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