Te Pāti Māori's Takutai Kemp on Youth Offending: 27 July, 2023

The Labour government announced last week that it will make ram-raiding its own criminal offence and build two new Youth Justice residences. We thus enter an election season where both major parties converge on using 'tough on crime' measures on rangatahi. 

Hanna spoke to Te Pāti Māori's Takutai Kemp about why the party does not endorse Labour's policies even though they claim to have a more rehabilitative focus than National's, their strong opposition to placing rangatahi in carceral institutions, addressing the systemic drivers behind youth offending through community integration and manaakitanga, and what space Te Pāti Māori have to push their policies when both Labour and National agree on punitive approaches to youth offending.