A teenager taking part in the government's bootcamp for young offenders has been charged over two-armed robberies while he was on the community part of the voluntary programme, RNZ can reveal.

A rangatahi (young person) who was in the community phase of the second Military Style Academy (MSA) pilot was arrested following two-armed robberies earlier this month, and faces new charges of aggravated robbery with an offensive weapon, as well as unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.

A community provider connected to the programme says it should be emphasised these kids are "persistent offenders".

"These are the ones that everything's been offered to them in the community ... and then they continue to offend and seriously offend."

It comes after the government's bootcamp legislation passed its final legislative hurdle in Parliament, and after the Minister confirmed in August that two other participants had already left voluntarily during the in-residence phase.

The second intake of 10 youths at the military style academy began in March with the transition from residential into the community phase taking place in July, as part of a second pilot that took place ahead of the legislation being passed.

The third reading for the Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Bill took place last week, with Minister in charge Karen Chhour saying the legislation would "help create less victims and make our communities safer".

The legislation gives the Youth Court the power to sentence serious young offenders to bootcamps. The pilot programmes had been voluntary.

RNZ approached the police about two separate robberies, one in Rotorua and one in Waitara, about a week apart.

A statement from Police confirmed they'd been called to an incident in Rotorua where a group of masked offenders entered a store armed with weapons, smashed display cabinets and stole items before leaving the area in two stolen vehicles. There were no reports of injuries.

Another statement from police confirmed three people were arrested in Waitara after a report of assault and robbery nearly a week later. A pursuit commenced before being abandoned, with three people later taken into custody.

"Two were charged with aggravated robbery with an offensive weapon and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.

"They will go through a youth justice process. Enquiries are ongoing," police said.

Asked by RNZ about the charges Oranga Tamariki (OT) deputy chief executive Dean Winter said given there was a police investigation underway with matters before the youth court, "we are unable to comment on this matter."

Minister for Children Karen Chhour was also asked, but a spokesperson for the minister said it would be inappropriate to respond in this instance as "all offending is alleged until found otherwise by a court".

But Labour's spokesperson for children Willow-Jean Prime told RNZ "enough is enough".

Prime said the majority of participants went on to reoffend in the pilot, and now in the second iteration of the programme, there was more offending and participants voluntarily leaving.

"The re-offending rate for National's boot camps is about the same as the rest of the youth justice system. It's a wasteful political experiment and takes us back down a path of harm.

"This is what Christopher Luxon has made Kiwis pay tens of millions for by turning this chaos into law just last week."

Labour has promised to scrap the bootcamps if elected and invest in "evidence-based and trauma-informed wraparound approaches that are proven to work for young people".

Community provider

The head of a community organisation that has been involved in the MSA spoke to RNZ, on condition of anonymity.

He was frustrated with the use of the word 'military' to describe what he called an "intensive wraparound programmme in residence".

"The programme gets completely slated because of the use of the word military.

"There's obviously some political reason to use the word military because it's not. It's not actually a military programme at all."

He described the in residence component as having intensive support, therapy, counselling, "that should be standard practice" in youth residence, "but it's not because it's obviously expensive".

The in-residence programme reduced victimisation "hugely" because these kids who were doing "lots of crime" were now off the street.

"They are doing crime every single day of the week," he said, wanting to reiterate the word "persistent".

"These are persistent youth offenders who have failed community intervention," adding they continue to be prolific offenders.

He said the mandatory sentencing now available to the Youth Court was a good thing for this specific cohort because it was a targeted intervention.

They couldn't re-offend while they were effectively locked up, "...how many kids you know offend when they're in residence? None of them".

But the reoffending by the MSA participant this month took place while they were in the community phase of the programme.

That was a key issue.

"What failed last time," he said in relation to the first pilot, "was when they were placed back in the community. The community placements for some of the kids were awful".

He said it really mattered where the kids went after being in-residence, because for some of those young people they might be returning to families with drug addiction or gang affiliations.

"My feedback from last time was that there wasn't a lot of thought, or it was left till the last minute," and bad selections were made.

"This time, I think they put a lot more thought into the placements."

He likened it to drug rehabilitation, and being offered a residential placement where you remain clean for that period of time. But the question was whether someone could stay drug free a year later with very little support, he said.

"How does that support then get reinforced once you're actually back out in the community."

When it came to reoffending he said "if you had 10 drug addicts going to rehab, how many of them do you think would reoffend within a month of getting out".

Asked if he thought the MSA programme was successful, he said they'd been developed to address "what is clearly a need within the youth justice system and within society".

Normally, these young people would go to prison, where they wouldn't have intensive support he said.

Asked what went wrong for this young person, he said you'd have to question how much trauma had they had in their life, how young they were when they first started offending, their family background, whether there are gangs involved or family harm, and whether the young person was emotionally unregulated, "There's a whole list of things."

In response, OT told RNZ the second programme had built on the first, including a full evaluation that showed the the transition to community period, the first months after leaving the residence, was the "most high-risk for rangatahi to re-offend, whilst their new skills, habits and behaviours are still embedding".

The second MSA programme includes a strong focus on transition planning. OT said participants were able to return to their whānau or move into a Step-Up Home, which is a semi-structured living environment where the rangatahi continue to be supported by kaimahi.