But people who work with young offenders say the figures must be judged according to what is going on in the community and whether the interventions are the most appropriate option for the particular child involved.
The Ministry of Justice's third annual report on Child and Youth Offending Statistics in New Zealand showed that the Southern police district had the second highest rate of apprehensions per 10,000 population of young people (aged 14-16) and the highest rate of youth prosecutions.
It also had the fourth highest rate of apprehensions per 10,000 population of children (aged 10-13) in the country, including the highest apprehension rate (per 10,000 population) for European children, and the second highest for Maori children.
Southern district operations manager Inspector Lane Todd said police had only just seen the report and needed to analyse it before commenting.
Dunedin police youth aid Sergeant Kevin Davidson had not seen the report, and did not know why apprehensions and prosecutions appeared to be high in the South.
He said there were many factors to consider, including the way the information was collated.
Statistics did not matter as much as whether the intervention targeted at children was the most appropriate one for them, he said.
Otago Youth Wellness Trust manager Barbara Peyton said the figures raised some interesting questions, including whether society was starting to confuse care and protection issues with criminal behaviour.
Every child's behaviour had to be viewed in context, she said.
Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft said the statistics were relative, and had to be judged according to what was going on in each community.
Although the system generally tried to keep youth prosecutions to a minimum, that also depended on the number and depth of good community interventions available.
He presided over Dunedin's Youth Court on Monday and was "encouraged and in some ways impressed" by the active, collegial and co-operative approach between agencies working with young people in the city.
Overall, the statistics showed a decrease in child and youth apprehension rates between 1995 and 2008 - which contradicted the popular perception offending by the young was skyrocketing.
But there was still work to be done, he said, especially in the area of violent offending, which had increased across all age groups.
The facts
- Overall, child (those aged 10-13) and youth (aged 14-16) apprehension rates dropped steadily between 1995 and 2008.
- Apprehensions for violent youth crime in 2008 were 13% above the average for the same period (adult rates up 30%).
- The most common offence was property damage, followed by violent offending and disorder.
- Child apprehension rates in the Southern police district dropped 49% between 1997 and 2008, and youth apprehension rates dropped 29%.
