The Youth Court deals with offending by young people aged 14–17 years and may deal with younger children, aged 12–13 years, in certain serious circumstances.
About 20–30% of children apprehended by Police come to the Youth Court. The rest are managed by Police Youth Aid and the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki. With a few exceptions, the Youth Court can hear and determine all charges against young people.
Youth Court statistics are recorded by number of cases rather than young people because each case may involve several charges or young people.
At a national level, comparing the 2020/2021 fiscal year with 2019/2020, there has been an:
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It should be noted that the Youth Court is a specialist division of the District Court. Its processes, practices and statutory principles are markedly different to those of District Court cases involving adult defendants. The Youth Court process does not follow the standard criminal process of appearance, conviction and sentence. Cases are often not disposed of quickly, and higher clearance rates are not always seen as an optimum outcome.
The following table shows the number of cases by location. A case is counted as new business when it first comes into the system, when charges are filed. It is counted as a disposal only when all charges within the case reach a final outcome. Since July 2013, transfers between courts have been included in the count. Therefore, the “Cases In” category covers both new business and transfers into a court from another court, while “Cases Out” includes disposals and transfers out.
Definitions:
Court Location |
Cases In
|
Cases Out |
Totals |
Active cases as at 30/06/2021 |
|||
New Business |
Transfers In |
Disposals |
Transfers Out |
Cases In |
Cases Out |
||
Alexandra | 10 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 13 | 15 | 1 |
Ashburton | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
Auckland | 180 | 35 | 162 | 47 | 215 | 209 | 51 |
Blenheim | 33 | 7 | 34 | 5 | 40 | 39 | 9 |
Chatham Islands | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Christchurch | 238 | 29 | 279 | 38 | 267 | 317 | 74 |
Dannevirke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Dargaville | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
Dunedin | 98 | 14 | 83 | 18 | 112 | 101 | 26 |
Gisborne | 47 | 13 | 55 | 11 | 60 | 66 | 11 |
Gore | 3 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 3 |
Greymouth | 11 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 5 |
Hamilton | 216 | 58 | 206 | 66 | 274 | 272 | 58 |
Hastings | 91 | 9 | 70 | 18 | 100 | 88 | 24 |
Hawera | 33 | 12 | 44 | 13 | 45 | 57 | 5 |
Huntly | 18 | 17 | 30 | 8 | 35 | 38 | 8 |
Hutt Valley | 90 | 24 | 97 | 26 | 114 | 123 | 19 |
Invercargill | 56 | 14 | 56 | 15 | 70 | 71 | 19 |
Kaikohe | 21 | 6 | 17 | 10 | 27 | 27 | 9 |
Kaikoura | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Kaitaia | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 2 |
Levin | 48 | 8 | 36 | 12 | 56 | 48 | 12 |
Manukau | 315 | 96 | 390 | 90 | 411 | 480 | 50 |
Marton | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 2 |
Masterton | 29 | 5 | 21 | 9 | 34 | 30 | 10 |
Morrinsville | 21 | 6 | 21 | 10 | 27 | 31 | 5 |
Napier | 46 | 17 | 68 | 4 | 63 | 72 | 19 |
Nelson | 77 | 12 | 62 | 15 | 89 | 77 | 28 |
New Plymouth | 96 | 17 | 80 | 25 | 113 | 105 | 17 |
North Shore | 110 | 30 | 86 | 45 | 140 | 131 | 25 |
Oamaru | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 6 |
Opotiki | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
Palmerston North | 151 | 24 | 160 | 21 | 175 | 181 | 32 |
Papakura | 18 | 30 | 31 | 14 | 48 | 45 | 11 |
Porirua | 72 | 14 | 74 | 15 | 86 | 89 | 16 |
Pukekohe | 12 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 19 | 20 | 3 |
Queenstown | 10 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 13 | 1 |
Rotorua | 148 | 20 | 120 | 35 | 168 | 155 | 53 |
Ruatoria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Taihape | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
Taumarunui | 8 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 0 |
Taupo | 32 | 11 | 40 | 11 | 43 | 51 | 1 |
Tauranga | 151 | 25 | 107 | 36 | 176 | 143 | 43 |
Te Awamutu | 12 | 4 | 13 | 5 | 16 | 18 | 2 |
Te Kuiti | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Thames | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 4 |
Timaru | 14 | 4 | 14 | 4 | 18 | 18 | 5 |
Tokoroa | 15 | 5 | 18 | 5 | 20 | 23 | 5 |
Waihi | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 6 |
Waipukurau | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Wairoa | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
Waitakere | 219 | 39 | 205 | 54 | 258 | 259 | 59 |
Wanganui | 47 | 7 | 34 | 14 | 54 | 48 | 18 |
Wellington | 56 | 9 | 35 | 19 | 65 | 54 | 20 |
Westport | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
Whakatane | 47 | 6 | 47 | 14 | 53 | 61 | 10 |
Whangarei | 69 | 32 | 90 | 20 | 101 | 110 | 33 |
National Total | 3,018 | 2,992 | 826 |
Youth statistics for the 2020/2021 fiscal year (ending 30 June 2021) as a spreadsheet:
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