Editorial: Te Hurihanga maths wrong

OPINION: After years of being under siege from vocal neighbours and the Hamilton City Council, Te Hurihanga was finally killed by simple, if dubious, accountancy.

The controversial Hillcrest youth justice facility was this week given its notice by Justice Minister Simon Power, who said the Government couldn't afford the sort of costly, intensive effort devoted to the small number of young offenders the revolutionary programme catered for. A cheaper-per-head-programme – run by Child, Youth and Family – would be set up instead.

That's a shame. A two-year evaluation of the centre said while it was too early to measure reoffending rates, there was a "consistent picture of individual improvements". In other words it was a new approach that had been set up right and the kids coming out of it were in a better place than when they went in.

There are big questions around the figures used by the Government to axe the programme. At best Mr Power's initial figure of $630,000 for each offender through the door is dubious. It divides the total cost of the centre only among those who have graduated to date, rather than among the total numbers under its care. This is deceitful.

Divided by the number of offenders through or on the course, the estimate is $171,000 per offender. That is roughly one and a half times what it would cost to keep them in jail once they hit the prison system.

There are arguments to say that's a reasonable investment; if they don't again come to the justice system's attention.

It was telling that the closure came only weeks after the Government's proposed three-strikes policy, which would lock up our worst offenders for life.

Axing Te Hurihanga paints a picture of a justice system diverting cash from the difficult task of preventing crime to simply whacking those responsible.

There is also a rich irony for the neighbours who originally opposed the facility on the grounds that it brought young offenders almost to their backyards.

Hillcrest Action Group member and neighbour Craig Appleton is right to express his concern that the neighbours' situation "may well have deteriorated" by replacing Te Hurihanga with a facility putting more wayward kids into Hillcrest with less funding.

No-one can call that a win for the little guy.

Residents always had a legitimate gripe in the lack of consultation with the ministry, which continued with the closure announcement timed on a holiday weekend Monday. The ministry's evaluation report, summarised on the next page, also raises security issues residents probably weren't even aware of.

From here we can hope Mayor Bob Simcock is right in his opinion CYF will be more open about what it is up to than the Justice Ministry was. Even so, we have all lost out with Te Hurihanga's demise. The chance for a tolerant community to invest in turning around its most at-risk has gone.

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